


Accidentally Human

by Applepie3399



Category: Transformers - All Media Types, Transformers: Prime
Genre: Gen, Humanformers, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-08-19
Updated: 2014-07-01
Packaged: 2017-11-12 10:57:49
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 30,299
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/490128
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Applepie3399/pseuds/Applepie3399
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Decepticons and Autobots pick up a signal from a Cybertronian ship crashed on Earth vorns ago. The Cons are up for a surprise though, being in the wrong place, at the wrong time. Primus knows how they’re gonna deal with the changes.<br/>Enjoy!~</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. 1

### Chapter 1

### 

***BEEP* *BEEP* *BEEP***

Soundwave's attention was drawn towards the new signal beeping on the radar's screen. The Nemesis was reading it as a neutral Cybertronian science ship. It must have crashed on Earth some vorns ago and something had reawakened its systems again. Most likely the recent earthquake activities in the area. 

However, the cause was not much of importance. At least not as much as the possible cargo the ship carried. Given the fact it was a science vessel, it was highly likely that its mission had been to explore the new planet for sentient life and traces of energon. Moreover, any ship sent to an unknown part of the universe tended to be highly armed with powerful weapons and shield in case of hostile habitants. 

And any type of weaponry was of interest to the Decepticons. 

Soundwave was standing in front of Megatron, showing the radar's findings on his visor. The tyrant was just about to speak up and sent a scout team when four more dots appeared on the screen – Autobots' signatures. 

If the Autobots were so fast to arrive at the ship's coordinates, perhaps they already knew what was on it. Or had suspicions about it. Either way, the ex-gladiator wasn't going to let them rob the vessel without a fight. It had been so dull and boring on the Nemesis the past several Earth weeks, he had been waiting for an excuse to get in a fight and beat some Autobots' afts. Any excuse was fine at this point. 

"Starscream, Breakdown, Knock Out – get a squadron of Eradicons and wait for me near the ground bridge." Megatron ordered loudly "Soundwave, open the ground bridge and take command while I'm out." 

With these words, the Decepticon Lord departed in the same direction the three officers and Vehicons had gone mere nano-kliks earlier. All were waiting patiently for the tyrant, the bridge already opened. 

Stepping through the greenish light circle, the other followed him closely behind. 

*******

Seemes like the Autobots were expecting a company as Prime had opened fire the moment Megatron emerged. The big con retaliated and shot his Fusion Canon at the truck several times. The other cons were quick to fire their weapons as well. The Eradicons quickly falling victims in the vicious fight, their offlined frames laying around the battlefield. 

The only other Autobot visible was the giant green bulk. But the radar had read four signatures. That meant the two wheeler and the scout were somewhere in the ship. 

"Starscream, Knock Out – search the vessel for any weaponry. If you encounter the other two Autobots – attack, but priority is capturing any potential weapon! GO!" barking out the orders, Megatron continued fighting with Prime, this time in close range combat. The two leaders were exchanging powerful fists, much like Breakdown and Bulkhead were doing. 

Starscream and Knock Out, on the other hand, had already entered the vessel, quickly going for the Command Center. Once there, they didn't have to search for the cargo's information as it had already been pulled out on the big screen. Only one prototype piece of machinery was on the ship. And it wasn't even sure it was a weapon, its function was unknown. The systems were stating that the defensive shield mechanisms and any weapons the vessel had, had been destroyed during the impact. 

The prototype was stored in room E1. The two cons figured out there was no need to go there at all. Instead, they created an ambush at the ship's exit, waiting for the two Autobots to approach. Once they did, Starscream launched himself on Arcee. 

The two-wheeler was expecting that and dodged the attack, kicking the seeker in the midsection. The rough treatment knocked him several feet in front of the motorcycle and towards the Decepticon leader. 

Knock Out was more successful in his attack, jumping on Bumblebee's back and trying to get a hold of the scout's neck. Unfortunately for the medic, the yellow bot was faster than him and managed to throw him off. The sport car landed nearly on top of the laying Second in Command, landing nastily on his wing. 

Meanwhile, Megatron had managed to get a semi-successful shot at Prime, the Fusion Cannon blast gazing the Autobot leader's shoulder slightly. The two bots were back to long-range shooting again. 

Breakdown and Bulkhead were still engaging in close combat, they were clinging to one another, each of them holding the other tightly and trying to overthrow him. In the end the blue mech was victorious, managing to punch the Autobot in the face a few times and send him flying after hitting him in the chest armor with his hammer. 

Starscream was able to aim and shoot at Bumblebee. The smaller mech almost dodged but the shot hit him in the servo that was holding the prototype. The machinery took the hit and accidentally discharged, catching all Cons in its fire range. 

Starscream and Knock Out were the first to get shot at, being nearer to the prototype. When the blast hit them, it engulfed them in blinding light and proceeded to do the same to Megatron and Breakdown who were a few dozens feet away. 

The Autobots had to shield their optics from the light until it dispersed. The Cons were gone! But they couldn't have escaped during the few nano-kliks when the others weren't watching. The interval was just too short. 

Arcee was the first to notice what exactly had happened. 

"By the All Spark… !" uttered the femme unbelievingly. 

The others' reactions weren't far behind. Bumblebee's spluttering beep-ing and Bulkhead exclamation of "WOW" was loud and unrestrained. Prime, on the other hand, managed to retain composure, no matter how shocking the news was. 

And shocking it was! Instead of four solid metal enormous Cybertronian frames, there were the same number of fleshly stark naked human bodies, unconscious by the looks of it. 

The two bodies closest to Arcee and Bumblebee were sure to be the Second in Command and the medic of the Decepticons. Now, an auburn-haired mid-twenties male with very fair skin and heart-shaped face was laying half on top of slightly taller and slender mid-thirties guy with very dark brown hair and sharp features. 

Another mid-thirties bulky brunette was lying where Breakdown had been standing before. His hair was kind of wavy and messy and his skin slightly tanned. And unlike the first two, he had significantly more and denser body hair, just like the fourth human. 

What had been Megatron's huge Cybertronian frame a mere nani-kliks ago was now a very toned and muscular fleshling. Even when unconscious, his dark bushy eyebrows were frowning. His Roman nose, strong jaw line and sideburns were giving him a powerful look even when in such puny body. It was hard to determine whether he looked like an army admiral or a criminal. 

It didn't take long for Prime to decide what to do. He stepped closer to the Decepticon leader and gently cradled him in one servo while turning to face the other Autobots. 

"Arcee, Bumblebee, Bulkhead, take the rest of them and follow me to base." Then he commed Ratched and requested a ground bridge. 

The tale-tell green light of the bridge appeared mere nano-klik later. The four bots stepped through it, each with a human in their servos and a sour expression on their faceplates. But they knew better than to squeeze too hard and damage the delicate human bodies. Though Breakdown grunted unhappily and Bulkhead was quick to lessen his grip. 

"At least the children are not present." Optimus tried to lift his team's spirit. "As far as I am informed, in human culture it is not accepted not to wear… clothes in public." 

"By the Allspark, who are those?" Ratchet exclaimed, his vision finally snapping to the humans in each Autobots' servos. "Optimus, we are not supposed to expose ourselves to any more humans! You know that!" 

The Prime sighed. He knew Ratchet would fuss even more once he told him exactly who the humans were. 

"This one-" he pointed at the one in his servo "- is Megatron. The one with Arcee is Starscream, the one with Bulkhead is Breakdown and the one with Bumblebee is Knock Out" the Autobot leader concluded, slightly trailing his last words in a pitiful attempt to avoid the inevitable harsh reaction from the ambulance. 

"WHAT!" Ratchet's optics widened significantly, giving him a rather crazed look "Why did you bring the two highest ranked DECEPTICONS and two other officers in the AUTOBOT base?" 

Wait. 

"AND WHY ARE THEY HUMANS?" that was the more pressing question after all. Even within the base itself, the Cons had no way of learning its location. And being human automatically disabled them from using any kind of comm. links and GPS devices. 

"First things, first, old friend. There was no danger in bringing them here. Otherwise, I would not have done so." Optimus said calmly, secretly hoping it will calm his team as well, somehow. 

"The science ship we were exploring had a special cargo – a prototype… machinery. Its purpose was not stated in the vessel's database and is currently unknown. The prototype fired and caught all four Decepticons in its blast, turning them into humans. This is everything we know so far. Perhaps you can take a look and identify the prototype, Ratchet?" 

Bumblebee handed the machinery to the medic, glad to be rid of it, just in case it fires again. 

Ratchet took interest immediately, setting the prototype on his work table and beginning to examine it, turning his back to the other Autobots. He probed it for several minutes. 

"I have never seen anything like this before. But if you give more time, I may be able to at least guess its function." 

"The Cons don't seem in a hurry." Arcee's dry comment reminded the team of the humans they were clutching in their servos. Guess it was time to put them somewhere. 

"Lay them on the couch. We must cover them with blankets. I hear humans get sick if underdressed in cool spaces." Prime was glad he had some experience with the children so he was not completely clueless about human nature. 

"Yeah, cuz we don't want them Cons to get sick huh!" Bulkhead mumbled irritated. 

"Bulkhead is right. Why should we care if they get sick? If we were turned into humans, they would've crushed us under their pedes. So why take care of them?" Arcee was angry, the sorrow for her lost partner still burning her spark. 

"We don't have to. But we will, this distinguishes us from the Decepticons. Now, lay them on the couch." Prime's words were not accusatory but held an air of finality, leaving no space for arguing. 

The Autobot leader let Megatron slide from his hand into a sitting position on the yellow couch, positioning him near the arm-seat. Bulkhead did the same with Breakdown, putting him at the other end of the furniture. Bumblebee had no other choice but to sit Knock Out between the two huge humans, leaving absolutely no space for Starscream. 

Arcee, sick of carrying the seeker around, just dropped him in Megatron's lap. Close enough was close enough after all. 

The Con's leader groaned at the impact and shifted, trying to get the added weight off of him. The motion had the opposite effect, making the seeker wiggle unhappily until he found a comfortable position with his back leaning on Megatron's chest and face nuzzling the other's neck. 

"Bumblebee, get some blankets from where the children use to stock their belongings." Optimus spoke calmly. His gaze didn't miss what was happening on the couch. For all their hate and drama the two Decepticon's commanders sure seemed content cuddling each other. Though, perhaps it was human nature to seek comfort and a friendly touch? 

Bumblebee had returned with a couple of blankets in their servos. After he covered the now-sleeping Cons he turned to face Prime and beep-ed questioningly. 

"Indeed, Bumblebee, we should find them some clothing. However, we cannot get them ourselves. Perhaps we need human assistance." Prime suggested. It was inevitable that the children and agent Fowler would meet with the Decepticons. Sooner or later… 

"Just not the children! I mean, not now at least. It ain't gonna be pretty" Bulkhead added, his face grimacing at the horrible thought. 

"I shall contact Agent Fowler then." Optimus steeled himself for the very awkward conversation that was about to follow. 

"Agent Fowler here. What is it, Prime?" 

Optimus vented a sigh before speaking up. "We have a situation that requires your… expertise. It is very urgent" 

"I'll be there in a few." 

*******

The Autobot team, save for Ratchet, were shifting from pede to pede uneasily. Mostly because of the impending chat with Fowler. Though, the thought of what will happen after the Decepticons woke up and realized they were not only in the enemy's base but also humans and totally defenseless, was also unsettling. 

That will be such a joy… 

The agent didn't disappoint and appeared several minutes later. He looked at the Autobots one by one and quickly scanned the base trying to find what was wrong. 

"Well, what is it? I don't see-" his sentence was cut in half by the sight of the four humans on the couch. His eyes widened in surprise. "Are they… naked?" 

Of course things were always weird with giant robot aliens but this was pushing it too little too much. But before he could regain his composure and start yelling questions, Prime spoke up. 

"Agent Fowler, we were exploring an old science ship from Cybertron when we were attacked by Decepticons. We managed to retrieve a prototype the ship was carrying. The prototype fired accidentally and hit the four remaining Decepticons, turning them into humans." He gestured towards the cough, emphasizing his point. 

As the Autobots had suspected, the agent looked at them dumbly, his jaw slack in disbelief. 

Huge robots turning into humans. What the..? How is one supposed to react to this! 

Thanks for reading :)


	2. Chapter 2

This was so surreal! Fowler was just staring into nothingness for several seconds, trying to comprehend what he had heard.

OK, so the big bad robots have turned into humans. Pushing the question 'how the hell is that even possible?' aside, he finally found his ability to speak again.

"I believe you're currently studying this… prototype, right?" at that Prime nodded, so the agent continued "You should be thankfull I'm not going to report that to my superiors like I should. It's way too freaky for them to believe anyway." He sighed. "So, what do you need my 'expertise' with then?"

The Autobots shifted uncomfortably.

"Even though we have some experience dealing with humans, we have never really questioned them about their daily needs. Neither have we dressed them. Thus, we hope you could help us with that predicament. We would like to avoid involving the children at that stage. Though, we realize they will eventually meet the Decepticons, we just prefer that to happen under… less awkward circumstances." Give it to Prime to make a super strange situation sound kind of logical.

All of the Autobots and Fowler grimaced when the kids were mentioned.

"So, you want me to find them clothes? And tell them about basic human needs?" Prime nodded again, a light of hope in his optics. Fowler wished he had taken that two months undercover mission abroad instead of declining the offer like he did.

How fucked up can it be to explain to the evil alien robots how to eat, pee and poo? God, what if they want a demonstration! Urgh… The agent winced at the thought, curling his upper lip in distaste.

"Ok, I'll get them some military clothes as I have an access to uniforms and others won't ask too many questions. I'll take two pairs of each size, because as far as I can see, two of them are quite muscled and the other two are kinda slim, so two pairs of each would be enough." At least the clothes problem would be solved. The Autobots can get them different ones after that if they want.

"But can't you just, I don't know, google the basic human needs and read through the info? I think once you've read the data you can compare it what you guys do. Besides, you'll expand your knowledge of human kind."

Fowler made it really hard for the bots to ignore his advice. None of them wished to say they didn't want to learn more about humans. And the whole mess was their fault…kind of.

"We didn't think of that! Didn't know there's that sorta info there." Bulkhead voiced out the team's opinion.

Arcee jabbed him hard in the leg though. He should've kept quite and played ignorant and let the human agent handle the explanations.

"So it's decided then, I'm going to get the clothes and you can start reading!" Fowler sounded happier than he should, having escaped a certain very very awkward conversation with the Cons. He quickly made his way out before the Autobots had time to change their minds… processors… whatever.

Ratchet had kept working on the prototype the whole time but had heard every word the others had said.

"Guess you'll have to get to work and explore this google thing, eh. Have fun learning about humans while I try to fix your mess." He couldn't help but tease the team. If they had been more careful, maybe this whole situation would have been avoided.

Arcee was the first to react, voicing her unwillingness to participate, quickly followed by an angry beep from Bumblebee and a little too late refusal from Bulkhead.

Right, everyone wanted to get away from this. It wasn't going to happen, though.

"We shall _**all**_ read through the information. It is not a matter of personal preferences and it will not be fair to let only one of us do all the work. Consider this task a mission! Ratchet will be the only exception, as he is currently working on figuring the prototype's origin and purposes." Prime's voice left no room for arguing.

* * *

He stepped close to the computer console, his team following behind and sitting themselves around their leader. The red and blue mech opened what the humans called "browser". Luckily for the Autobots, the said browser's home page was .

Prime typed 'basic human needs' in the white bar and clicked the 'search' button.

The results showed instantaneously. Optimus clicked on the first possible link which was the 'Maslow's hierarchy of needs - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia'. Hopefully they'd find the info they were looking for there. Or at least get a good start for searching other things.

Opening the Wiki page, the colourful pyramid on the right side of the screen caught their optics. The text below was saying that the most basic needs are at the bottom. So, the physiological ones, right?

Arece read aloud the words in the first level of the pyramid.

" **Breathing, food, water, sex, sleep, homeostasis, excretion."**

At least the Autobots were familiar with some of these terms and what they mean. Better start from the beginning anyway. Or at least that was what Bulkhead thought.

"Well, guess the Cons are breathing now or they'd be dead, right?"

"Good job, stating the obvious, Bulk." The two-wheeler's slight sarcastic comment made the green mech look away embarrassed. Bumblebee beeped and Prime nodded his helm agreeing.

"Indeed, Bumblebee. Breathing is automatic for humans. Sleeping will not be a problem either, as the four of them are doing it just fine now. And we have already seen the kids consuming food and water several times a day and it seems fairly easy. Now, let's research what the rest three means." With these words, Prime opened new tab in the browser and types 'sex' into the search bar.

They read several sources for several minutes and it was still unclear exactly what was sex supposed to mean. All explanation included a lot of unknown terminology. They got bored of trying to figure it out using text and clicked on the 'Images' button of the Google search. It took only a few nano-kliks to find out exactly what sex meant.

_**Holy PRIMUS!** _

Prime closed the tab as fast as possible. The four Autobots sat in silence; the tension in the air was so thick you could've slice it with a knife. Horrified expressions plastered on every faceplate, optics ridiculously wide.

Bumblebee was the first to crack, beeping distressingly and clutching his helm in his servos, shaking it viciously in a pitiful attempt to erase the images. Arcee covered her optics with a hand, massaging her temples with her thumb and forefinger. Bulkhead managed to stop himself from banging his head at the console.

"We ain't explainin that to the Cons, right boss? They ain't gonna need it and even if they do, they're gonna have to find it themselves!" the green mech wanted to make sure they wouldn't be going through this ever again. _EVER!_

"Yes, we are not explaining that to them. Let us pretend we have never seen what we just saw. And never speak of it again. Agreed?" Needless to say, all three bots agreed with the Prime. They were just about to move on when Ratchet spoke.

"What did you see?" the medic was curious what had managed to silence his team-mates. All of his threat, all the dangerous battles and horrible things that had happened to every one of them hadn't succeeded into rendering them that speechless.

Prime sighed heavily while the other three bots made an attempt to smile innocently thought the expressions looked scarier than intended.

"We just saw the human equivalent of 'interface'… shown by explicit photographs." Even Optimus couldn't make this one sound good.

Ratchet's servo around the wrench loosened and the instrument fell on the floor with a loud clank. All five pairs of optics shot towards the sleeping Decepticons on the couch in fear they might wake up because of the loud noise. Surprisingly, the humans just stirred for a few seconds, rearranging themselves.

All except for Starscream. The seeker lazily opened his eyes. He shot out from the couch once he saw the unfamiliar surroundings, taking one of the blankets with him, stumbling over it and falling on his face, still wrapped in said blanket.

The ex-jet felt a sharp pain in the middle of his face and his hand instinctively moved to cover the place where it hurt the most. When his slender fingers bumped into something… projecting from between his eyes and mouth, he froze. The nose wasn't the only strange thing though. What bothered Starscream more was the cushiony material his face was made of now, instead of the solid metal of his robot frame.

He removed his hand from his face and looked at it. His eyes widened and his breath hitched when he realized he was staring at a fleshling's limb, _**his**_ fleshy limb!

**SCRAP SCRAP SCRAP SCRAP SCRAP SCRAP**

His breathing came in shorter and shorter with every second until it became really hard to breathe. Panic and horror gripped what was previously his spark and now… He didn't even know what it was anymore!

His body started to tremble, hiccupping sounds coming from the distressed seeker. He bent his legs and the knees and hugged them tightly to his body, rocking himself back and forth, unable to even scream in scare.

The Autobots were watching him with curiosity. Starscream hadn't even realized they were present in the room. He sharply turned around to look at his now missing wings. He emitted a strangled sound of horror seeing that his wings were gone, tears forming in his eyes.

And then he noticed the Autobots. He scrambled backwards until his back and head hit the drawer and the TV on it. He winced at the impact, but the danger of being human in, what he suspected was the Autobots base, was much worse than a bump on his pretty head.

His eyes darted from face plate to face plate, gripping the blanket as a shield. He tried to speak but only hiccups came out of his mouth. Everything stilled for several seconds, Starscream doing his best to control the vicious trembling of his body. And suddenly a loud rumbling noise emitted from the seeker's stomach. Starscream looked down in horror.

"Oh, oh, I know, he's hungry!" Bulkhead said enthusiastically, a little bit too enthusiastically maybe.

"Starscream, calm down. We shall not hurt you." The seeker looked terribly skeptical, and Arcee's icy glares didn't help at all. " Optimus continued nonetheless. "Could you tell us the last thing you remember?"

After several silent seconds from the human, Arcee lost her patience and let out an angry hiss of 'Speak!' towards him. Starscream flattened himself against the drawer more and winced miserably, closing his eyes in an anticipation of a hit.

A hit didn't come though. He heard an accusatory beep from the yellow bot and an 'Arcee, please calm down' from the Prime.

Then the fearsome yet kind of soft voice targeted him. "Starscream, please, tell us the last thing you remember."

The seeker slowly opened his eyes and lifted his head to look at Optimus.

"I…" his voice cracked "I remember Knock Out and me jumping on Bumblebee and Arcee. Then they threw us on the ground and I shot at Bumblebee… " he looked at the yellow bot "and obviously missed. What did you do to me? Why am I a puny fleshling now!"

"We didn't do anything to you, Con!" Bulkhead was unhappy for being accused by the seeker.

Prime decided to start explaining what had happened before the green mech and Starscream started yelling at one another.

"Your shot missed Bumblebee and hit the prototype in his arm instead, making it fire in return. The function of the prototype is still unknown but Ratchet is currently researching it. When it fired, you, Megatron, Knock Out and Breakdown got turned into humans by it." At Prime's words, the seekers eyes quickly scanned for the other Decepti-humans, finding them almost instantaneously.

He recognized who was who immediately. Even as humans, their body types and faces betrayed too much. What caught his eye was the fact that there was no spare space where he could've sat before shooting up. But the blankets on Megatron were half off of the man, so maybe…

**ARGH!**

From all the places he could've sat, the Autobots put him in Megatron's LAP. What the frag was wrong with them!

Meanwhile, the bots had already contacted Agent Fowler and requested him to bring some food along with clothing.

* * *

Thanks for reading :)


	3. Chapter 3

TFP Verse/AU Humanized.

No beta read.

Enjoy 3

* * *

Starscream was still curled up into a ball and trying to comprehend what had happened. He was a puny fleshling now. How fragged up was that. His body was alien and his wings were gone. On top of everything, he was in the _**enemy's**_ base!

Then again, he wasn't exactly liked or respected much on the Nemesis and the Cons were kind of brutes, so maybe staying with the Autobots would prove to be a better idea. After all, they did have some experience with the native specie, right? At least more than the Decepticons had, that was for sure.

He vaguely heard Prime telling his bots to go and read the rest of what they had been reading before Starscream woke up.

The seeker was feeling less stressed once the Autobots' optics weren't fixed on him. But Arcee continued to glare at him way too often to be comfortable.

He tried to stand up which proved to be … not hard but weird, in this new body. The seeker covered his torso with the blanket, much like a cape which he was gripping with both hands and twisting around his body to cover as much areas as possible. The blanket was way too small though, and Starscream's slender legs were left naked from the mid-thigh downwards.

When he had finally managed to stand upright he made an attempt at walking. It felt so awkward. He tried to move his hips, ankles and knees in different ways, some of which slightly painful. He also tried walking the way he used to do in his Cybertronian frame but it wasn't very successful. Something was wrong.

He lifted his heels off the ground and stood on the balls of his feet. Then he tried to take several steps again. It felt much more familiar, though it was way too tiring to be the correct way to walk in this new body.

No way was he going to ask the Autobots how to do it rightly!

No way in Pit!

He'd just wait for the others to wake up and see how they'd walk and learn from their mistakes. Until then, he decided to sit tight.

Meanwhile, the Autobots had already figured out what homeostasis meant. Long story short, they just didn't have to expose the humans to diseases and such. Once this was cleared, they moved to the next one – "excretion".

"Ew, ew, ew!" Arcee and Bulkhead's responses were in synch while Bumblebee was whining in misery.

Why were humans so disgusting?

Well, now they knew what the 'toilet' room was for. And after a few minutes they understood how it was used as well.

All in all, how to… going to toilet and eating were the only things they had to show the Cons.

Primus bless, there weren't any other disgusting activities humans had to do.

"Starscream, come here for a minute. We need to show you information about how to use your new body." Prime hoped that after they tell him the basics he had to know, he would share the information with the other three Cons and they wouldn't have to go through this embarrassment again.

The distance between where the seeker sat and where he had to go to see the monitor wasn't terribly long. But it was long enough to show his awkward way of walking on the ball of his feet. He just hoped the Autobots won't look his way. No such luck.

Arcee noticed the strange walking first.

"What are you doing?" her voice was half skeptical half amused.

Starscream stopped dead in his tracks and let his heels touch the ground. "Walking." He murmured.

The word exchange attracted the other bot's attention as well. Several tense nano-kliks passed and the seeker realized they all expected him to walk the rest of the distance to them.

Frag.

His heels left the ground once more and he started his unusual way of walking again, feeling all five pair of optics focused on his bare legs and feet. For some reason this was so humiliating for the con.

Bumblebee beep-ed excitedly several times causing Arcee and Bulkhead to chuckle at what he said. Starscream didn't like to be laughed at and his reaction to that didn't come as a surprise.

"WHAT?" his voice was high and irritating.

The femme leaned closer to the seeker, not even bothering to try and suppress her smirk.

He said that you were walking like the human females do when wearing high heels."

"I'M NOT A FEMME! And I don't walk like one!" Starscream was absolutely scandalized.

"Yeah, you do." The green mech managed to say despite his fits of laughter.

Starscream's face heated up in embarrassment. Others had told him he had legs like a femme before but they had all suffered horrible deaths afterwards. This time, however, he could do nothing but further embarrass himself. And just when he thought it couldn't get any worse than that…

"Aww, look, he's blushing. How cute!~"

Starscream had no idea what 'blushing' was but the teasing tone of the blue femme told him enough to know he wouldn't like it anyway.

Prime vented a sigh.

"Autobots, enough." His tone was not sharp but firm enough to cease their teasing.

The Decepti-human looked his way relieved. Was it not for his enormous ego and pride, he might have even thanked the big bot.

"Starscream, in your new body you have to perform several extra tasks that we, Cybertronians, do not have to do. As a human being you have to breathe, sleep, dress, eat, drink and excrete. The first two are automatic. Humans breathe all the time and they fall asleep when they are tired. Thus, there is no need for you to learn how to do either of them." Prime's explanation was calming the seeker a little. At least someone knew how he was supposed to survive in this disgusting flesh shell.

"When Agent Fowler brings clothes and food he is going to show you how to dress and eat. Drinking, predominantly water, is the same as drinking energon."

Scrap, he'd have to endure a fleshling teaching him basic human needs, how humiliating.

"And finally, I want you to look at the monitors. They show you how to perform the… last task – excretion."

Starscream's dark eyes followed Optimus' servo pointing at the computer screens. He began to read the text and examine the pictures. When it finally clicked, he produced a horrified sound followed by a disgusted face expression.

The disturbing information somehow sunk in.

"And where is this… "toilet" place?" Starscream asked. He wasn't enthusiastic to visit it at all, but he had to know eventually.

While Prime was pointing his finger in the direction of the toilet, someone on the couch shifted, jumped and and fell just like Starscream had done earlier. When Knock Out looked at his new body, he let out an earsplitting scream, successfully waking up the two bigger cons.

They both jumped on their feet, blankets falling to the floor. Their stances quickly changed from offensive to confused, seeing as the weapons they were pointing at the screaming man were no there at all. Meanwhile, the red head was covering his eyes with his hands in a pitiful attempt to deny reality and murmuring panicked to himself.

"This is a nightmare. How can this happen to me? Primus, what have I done to deserve this? Why a puny fleshling body? Why? Why? Why? Scrap, scrap, scrap. I hate this, hate it, hate it. My paintjob, my frame, Primus, I want them back. Frag. Frag!"

Breakdown managed to distinguish what the smaller man was talking about and his eyes widened in recognition.

"Knock Out?" at the sound of his name, he made a hiccupping sound of misery and answered with a faint 'yes'. He looked through his fingers at the nearing human. "Breakdown?"

The bigger human crouched down near Knock Out and tried to calm him down by rubbing his upper arms and patting his back all the while talking to him to calm down and that things were going to be alright.

Megatron, on the other hand, had a menacing look on his face. Even as a mere naked human, he somehow managed to look very dangerous. The warlord quickly realized where they were, his eyes glaring holes into Prime's faceplates.

Optimus' optics were looking straight to Megatron as well, unlike all other Autobots, who just couldn't help but look down south and regretting their weakness immediately.

"Prime." The Decepticon's leader voice was pure venom. He demanded answers.

"Megatron." Prime's calm voice did nothing but anger the biggest human more.

"It's in your best interest to have a sound explanation for this ridiculous situation!" Megatron's attempt at scaring the bots into telling him what happened didn't prove to be successful. He heard a couple of chuckles and furrowed his brows even more.

The Autobot leader sighed.

"You are not in a position to threaten us, Megatron. However, I shall explain what happened. I suspect the last thing you remember is the two of us fighting, correct?" at the question, the con nodded. Prime continued.

"Arcee and Bumblebee have already retrieved a prototype from the science ship when they were ambushed by Starscream and Knock Out. Your mechs tried to take it away but did not succeed they and were thrown to the ground. Starscream shot at Bumblebee but instead of hitting him, he hit the prototype in his servo. It went off and changed you into humans. We are currently examining it."

Megatron was shaking with rage. So, it was Starscream's fault again, how predictable. He picked up his blanket, tied it around his waist and walked quickly towards the scared seeker, cruel intention clear in his posture.

"Starscream, you fail me yet again! Because of YOU we are in this pathetic state. You have officially outlived your usefulness."

The slender human flattened himself against the railing, too frightened to even scream or beg. He knew the fleshlings' bodies were fragile. Megatron's beatings tended to be intense and he might not survive one in this weak form.

Optimus decided now was a good time to intervene. He extended his servo towards Starscream and lowered it to the ground so the seeker can climb into it. Seemed like in the face of danger, Starscream didn't care who he got help from. He jumped into the extended servo with no hesitation, hands clenching at Prime's digits, half hiding himself behind them.

The Decepticon's lord was outraged.

"Prime! What do you think you are doing? Put him down to face the consequences of his actions!"

"Calm down, Megatron. His intentions were to obey your orders and bring you the prototype. He had done nothing to wrong you, at least not now. Thus, there is no need for punishment." Prime tried to reason the furious warlord.

But when he saw that Megatron was still too angry and would try to hurt Starscream, the Autobot leader moved his servo to his shoulder and put the seeker there.

The slender human nested comfortably in between the warm cables and tube lines there, his hands now gripping the protective windshields. He calmed down a little, realizing Megatron wouldn't be able to reach him there. He felt oddly safe and relaxed, protected by Prime.

"Treacherous coward!" the tyrant's insult was nothing new to the seeker.

"There is no need for insults either, Megatron." Prime felt like he was trying to sort things out between kids.

"Why do YOU feel the need to protect HIM?" Megatron was getting even angrier. He didn't like how the Autobot's leader was so protective of Starscream and he liked it even lees how much the seeker looked alright with residing on the blue and red mech's shoulder.

Prime of course had a fairy simple reasoning. "Every life is precious, Megatron. And I'd rather avoid violence when possible. But why are you so keen on punishing Starscream for a mistake? He did his best to complete his task after all. Must you beat him for not succeeding?"

It was a fair question. Megatron had never beaten anyone for not succeeding. Except Starscream of course.

The warlord was about to answer when Knock Out let out a scream again.

"PRIMUS, I'M LEAKING!"

* * *

Thanks for reading :)


	4. Chapter 4

Knock Out was unfortunate enough to be the first one to discover what 'taking a leak' meant. He was utterly disgusted by his new body and its weird functions. He was also completely mortified when he found out that it was considered normal only for baby humans to… loose hold of their bladder, so to speak.

The redhead was a little glad that the Autobots were too busy being put off by his leakage to laugh their afts off at his misery.

At least Breakdown had been a good friend in this situation and hadn't left him to deal with it alone. He had tried to calm him down and helped him walk to the fleshbag's equivalent of wash racks.

Breakdown escorted his partner to the bathroom but didn't enter, giving the other man some privacy. Once inside, Knock Out threw the soaked blanket away with disgust. His thighs were all wet with… ugh, he didn't even want to think about the organic slag that had poured out of his now fragged up fleshy body.

The Autobots had said he was supposed to hold "it" in and only release it when using the 'toilet'. They also said they already showed Starscream how to use the toilet but the seeker didn't want to share the knowledge, so the bots had to explain the whole thing to the rest of the Cons as well.

Organics were so disgusting. They had such small frames and yet the amount of slag they produced was unheard of.

Knock out shook his head to get rid of the thoughts about how disgusting organics were and try and focus on the matter at hands.

The bathroom was looking odd and familiar at the same time. It kind of resembled a wash rack. Knock Out turned the tap with the blue color on and the shower head rained ice cold water on him. He whelped and jumped back in surprise, all the way cursing everything and everyone he could think of.

He reached with one hand and turned the tap off, careful not to expose his flesh to the water again. Fragging human facilities. Was taking a shower supposed to be a torture or something?

The redhead decided to try his luck with the red tap, this time making sure not to stand below the shower head. He tried the water with his hand. It was warm, gradually getting hotter and hotter. The realization hit him, he was supposed to mix them together.

Once he had managed to get the perfect water temperature, he let the stream pour down his head and back. It was soothing. It also warmed him a bit, he was starting to feel quite cold, covered with just one blanket.

He was supposed to use some kind of … chemicals to clean himself. He reached towards the first bottle on the shelf and read the instruction on the back. It was for his hair.

He poured a fair amount of the dense liquid on his hand and smeared it on his head. He made sure to close his eyes before that though. Optics were sensitive and had to be closed during cleaning in the wash racks, so Knock Out assumed human eyes were sensitive as well and not to be exposed to this… shampoo crap.

He washed most of his body next. 'Most' being the key word. Almost every part of his human body was somewhat similar to his Cybertronian frame – two arms, equal set of joints on them, fingers, legs, etc. The digits on his bare feet were kind of weird though.

But what grabbed Knock Out's attention the most was the hanging flesh between his legs. It quite a lot resembled a spike. But spikes were hidden and only pressurized when aroused. This, on the other hand, was just hanging there. Maybe it was broken? Only one way to find out.

The redhead touched the flesh gently and trailed his finger down its length. It didn't hurt. That was a good sign, at least it wasn't broken. Knock Out decided that it was just designed that way. He took a mental note to check with the other Cons just to make sure it wasn't a defect or something.

Whatever the case, it was sensitive, more sensitive than the rest of his body. But he was determined to clean it like the rest of that pathetic organic shell. He soaped his hands and run them up and down the … whatever it was called. After a few strokes though, he felt a tingling sensation in the pit of his stomach.

Primus! It was definitely the human equivalent of the spike!

Knock Out willed himself to let go of the flesh. Touching it felt nice but now was not time.

He quickly rinsed himself and put a towel around his waist and on his head. He tried to leave the bathroom but it was too cold outside so he just went back inside. He was going to wait the clothes to arrive first.

* * *

**Meanwhile.**

Megatron was glaring daggers at Starscream, who was still nested on Prime's shoulder. The tyrant knew the seeker would eventually have to leave his current spot. And then he could get his hands around the ex-jet's neck and give him a piece of his mind!

He just had to be patient. Prime wouldn't be able to protect Starscream forever.

The smaller human was watching his leader miserably from above. He was so screwed! The worst part is he hadn't even planned the whole thing. He was just obeying orders, for a change. He had made a mistake, it could've happened to anyone really.

But Megatron was taking it personally. Somehow, the warlord though it was one of Starscream's acts of treachery gone wrong.

However, now that the tyrant had managed to calm himself a little, that scenario didn't make much sense. Maybe he could give the seeker the benefit of the doubt.

But regardless of that, it was Starscream's fault they were fleshbags now and Megatron was going to vent his anger on the slim human nonetheless.

But right now, he had to find a way to contact Soundwave. It was unacceptable for them to become Autobots' pets!

The tyrant scanned the hideout carefully, remembering as many details as possible. He took a look at the main console, Cybertronian writings filling its monitors. His jaw slacked in shock. He couldn't read it, he couldn't understand his mother tongue.

It was bad enough he had lost his knowledge of the Cybertronian language, but what was even worse was the fact he had no chance of contacting Soundwave now. At least not using the Autobots' computers. And Megatron was more than certain Prime wasn't about to just let them walk free outside the base, much less let them reunite with their fraction.

" Prime, what exactly are you planning to do with us? Surely, now is the perfect moment to offline us." Megatron said, though he was more than sure the Autobot leader wouldn't kill them, especially not when they were mere humans. He was too soft sparked and he had a weak spot for this planet's dominant specie.

"Or perhaps you'll hand us over to the squisy's authorities. I'm sure they'll gladly put us in jail or even offline us, knowing their vicious nature." Megatron snarled the last few words with disgust.

Prime took several seconds to respond, his face plates devoid of any kind of emotion. Somehow, that was peeving the Decepticon leader quite a lot.

"No one is going to offline you, Megatron. You can rest assured." Optimus said calmly.

At these words, the huge human raged even more, looking very offended at the statement.

"I'M NOT AFRAID!"

The Autobots were reminded once again of the capacity of the human voice. It was quite powerful, being contained in such small bodies.

Starscream couldn't keep himself from chuckling at the colour creeping up his leader's cheeks and neck. But when an angry "SILENCE!" was shouted his way, he immediately stopped his laughing and hid himself further behind the windshield. The Prime observed their childish behaviors but decided to not comment on it. He faced Megatron once again and spoke.

"I did not imply you were scared. Concerned perhaps, as anyone should be in situation such as yours."

Embarrassment caused more colour to spread on the Decepticon Lord's face.

Prime paid that no mind and continued with his talking.

"You shall not be handled over to the human authorities, neither. As fitting and ironic as that may be, prison will do nothing but intensify your displeasure with humans. Moreover, they tend to be quite revengeful and would likely terminate you if they knew who you truly were. I have yet to decide what course of action to take."

Even though Prime's explanation didn't make their future very clear, Megatron felt the sickening feeling in his stomach lessen a bit. And so did his heartbeat rate. Breakdown and Starscream looked visibly less stressed as well.

So, they now knew they wouldn't be terminated or handed over to the inferior fleshbags, but they were still stuck with the Autobots. And their annoying children pets, who were absent at that moment, thanks Primus!

A few minutes passed in silence before Starscream's tummy made a loud noise again, causing the seeker to squeak indignantly. It felt a lot like when he was lacking energon. The Autobots had said that the food would arrive soon. Where was it?

Eventually, he started to complain how hungry he was, trying to leave out the insults towards the fleshbag that was supposed to bring them food.

No one paid much attention to the whining seeker, except for Megatron. With every word the smaller human murmured, the grimace on the warlord's face was becoming scarier and scarier. Until…

"STARSCREAM, shut your mouth or I'll shut it for you, you miserable worm!"

The seeker made a loud noise of shock and scarce and didn't utter a sound until Agent Fowler arrived, clothes and food in hands.

"Well well. Sleepy-heads have awakened. Care to share their identities now, Prime?" the newly arrived human asked.

The Autobot leader introduced all Decepticons, including Knock Out, who was just leaving the bathroom, having heard someone else arriving.

Fowler was gaping slightly at the new information. The Con's leader, their SIC and medic, plus their main muscle soldier. It was the perfect catch, so to speak.

It was the perfect time to get a little revenge as well, scare his torturer from the time he was captured by the Cons.

When Prime got Starscream back to the ground, the seeker immediately recognized Fowler. His panicked eyes jumped from place to place, trying to find somewhere to possibly hide. The more the human was closing in, the more Starscream was backing away, until his back collided with a strong muscled chest – Megatron's.

The seeker cursed himself for getting himself trapped between the two humans, who were clearly not wishing him any good at all. He wasn't scared for his life; after all, Prime wouldn't allow him to get killed. But he was a little frightened of getting severely hurt. No matter what some bots might have thought, he didn't like pain, at all.

He couldn't help but shudder at the warmth coming off of Megatron. It was kind of nice. But he didn't have time to dwell on that.

"Starscream, right? Remember me?" Fowler was way too close for the seeker's liking.

Was he going to torture him? Surely, he'd like a payback…

"I-I… I'm so-sorry! Please, d-don't hurt me!" the seeker begged shamelessly. But his usual talent in this department was kind of lacking at the moment.

He felt two large strong arms gripping his biceps so tightly it hurt. He whimpered miserable before hearing his leader speak.

"Don't apologize to fleshbags and don't beg them either, you fool! You're a disgrace to the Decepticons!" it was hissed right into the seeker ear, promising a lot of trouble if he didn't cease his miserable behavior right then.

Agent Fowler, seeing how scared the young human was, stepped back, deciding the seeker already had someone to torment him constantly. He opened the bags he was carrying and tossed each Con an army uniform to dress up with.

With a few tips about how to put the clothes on, the Cons were all dressed after ten minutes. The pants were slack and Starscream didn't like them at all, especially the boots, which he absolutely refused to put on. But he was wise not to voice his displeasure right then. Knock Out, on the other hand, decided then was the right time.

"This is terrible! How can you expect us to walk around like that? Look at the colour, the texture, absolutely horrible!"

The medic was somewhat right. The clothes, although his size, were not suiting him at all. In fact, it was even laughable. Same went for Starscream, though they looked slightly better on him.

But they were most becoming to the two bigger Cons. They truly looked like military people, and far scarier than when they were covered only with blankets.

Seeing as all were now dressed to an acceptable lever, Fowler took the food and drinks out of the second bag.

When he opened the flat boxes and took a slice of the food, Starscream just couldn't keep his mouth shut any longer.

"What the slag is that!"

* * *

Thanks for reading :)


	5. Chapter 5

"What the slag is that!"

"It's called pizza. Very popular and tasty. Humans love it." Fowler said, taking a piece of the food and separating it from the rest, causing the cheese on top to stretch considerably.

Starscream made a gagging sound, clearly disliking the pizza before even trying it. It looked absolutely disgusting to him even though he was starving by then. Hunger and nausea were having a little fight inside the seeker's head. His lip was curling, showing his teeth in a nasty fashion.

His fellow Cons had already finished eating the first box and opened another one. Fowler has shown them how to open their cans of Coke as well but Starscream was too spaced out to pay attention to the human's warning.

He opened the can and took a large gulp, still too preoccupied with his food dilemma. The big amount of cool drink rushed into the seeker's mouth and throat and he started coughing in surprise, his eyes watering from the fizz. After a few seconds the coughing passed and he took a few shallow intakes before returning to normal breathing.

He blinked a couple of times to clear the wateriness in his eyes and took a look around. Everyone was laughing at him, except Prime and Megatron. The former's face plates were devoid of emotion, only the little hint of concern could be detected in his optics. The latter, on the other hand, was sporting a stormy and even hateful expression.

"Starscream, quit your foolish acts and eat the food." Megatron hissed, his voice stern and final.

Like Pits, he was going to eat that slag! No way!

"I don't want to. It's disgusting!" Starscream protested while eyeing the half-eaten piece of pizza in his leader's hand.

"Starscre- " The bigger human's warning was unwisely cut off by the seeker, who was still hell bent on disobeying.

"I said I don't want to! Why do you even care if I eat or not?"

Megatron furrowed his brows. Must he explain his every order to the SIC? It was getting more and more irritating with every orn.

"You are a disgrace to the Decepticons as it is and you are not adding to that by starving to death because you refuse to complete the simplest of tasks that every other organic does! Now, eat the food or I'll shove it down your throat."

Knock Out couldn't stifle his laugh completely, snorting in result. Breakdown was eyeing him in a 'Are you serious?' fashion. Luckily for the redhead, the warlord paid no mind to the inappropriate way Knock Out had interpreted his words.

Megatron truly wished that threats would shut the seeker up but he knew Starscream better than that. Words were never enough, sadly.

"I refuse!" The slim human hissed back at the tyrant, his lips pursing together tightly.

The Con's leader had enough of this charade. He stood up and took a step around the table to reach for the seeker. The younger man jumped back, putting some distance between himself and the other.

Had it been any other situation, Megatron would be already throwing Starscream half across the room and stepping on his head for good measure. But this action would only win him a long and boring lecture about comradeship from Prime and Megatron really wasn't in the mood for that.

"STARSCREAM!" He tried once again. Maybe the new weaker frame…body would scare the seeker enough to be more reasonable.

Tough chance…

"YOU CANNOT ORDER ME TO EA—" Starscream's shrill protest was cut off by a can of Coke colliding with his nose. The seeker was not fast enough to avoid the object Megatron had thrown at him in a fit of rage.

The strike caused him to loose balance and fall on top Knock Out, who was looking horrified at the few droplets of blood dripping out of the seeker's nose.

Starscream's shaky hands found their way towards his face. He was startled by the dampness under his nose. When he noticed the red colour he was shocked how easily humans were hurt to the point of bleeding. It stung a bit, though the pain from the initial impact had subdued considerably. He didn't like pain but this was nothing compared to the punishment sessions with Megatron. The worst part was that he had no idea how to react. He didn't know how much damage was inflicted, or how vital this part of the body was.

The human agent instructed him to tilt his head back a little. The seeker wasn't registering the words though, being too preoccupied staring dumbly at his hands and being lost in his own thoughts.

Knock Out, on the other hand, had taken the advice and was tugging at Starscream to lay partly on him. The brunette was plaint and obedient in his absentmindedly state and was easy to maneuver so that his head was nested in Knock Out's lap.

Starscream finally got out of his trance when Fowler waved a napkin at him, telling him to put it under his nose and let it absorb the blood. The seeker did as instructed, his hands still shaky, but he managed to calm himself a little. The fingers combing soothingly through his hair were a big help, for some unknown reason.

Knock Out had no clue why he was doing what he was doing. Cybertronians didn't have hair, so such a gesture was absolutely foreign to the medic. But it felt like the right thing to do and by the looks of it, it was having the desired effect on the brunette.

What surprised him even more was that he felt a tiny bit of need to help Starscream in some way. It was… weird to say the least. He was a Decepticon and thus, compassion didn't make it to his top character traits. Even though he was their medic, he was always better at breaking stuff than fixing them.

But now, it was different. Humans were much more fragile, they needed more care. And he genuinely wanted to help. But he couldn't, he knew little to nothing about human anatomy. He was supposed to be the medic of the team and yet, he was just as clueless as anyone else.

It sucked, big time.

Meanwhile, Prime was frowning at Megatron and giving him the speech the big human so didn't want to hear. The Autobot leader was disappointed but not surprised by the action of violence among the Decepticons. And his words were meeting deaf ears as usual but that did not discourage him.

After a few minutes of being scolded like a child, Megatron had had enough.

"HOW WAS I SUPPOSED TO KNOW HE'LL FRAGGING BLEED?"

Even in a fit of rage, Megatron knew exactly how hard he had thrown the can. Stronger hits than that had never caused so much damage before. And then it hit him. He had no idea how fragile their new bodies were. Perhaps, he would have to tone down the violence a little bit.

Prime decided to let the subject drop this time. By the looks of it, Megatron had realized his mistake and there was no need to further agitate him.

"Maybe we should take him to a human doctor…" Ratchet said. He really disliked when people got hurt around him. It made him feel inadequate as a medic and he truly hated that feeling. "Maybe Mrs. Darby?"

"In my opinion, it isn't necessary. The bleeding has stopped already." Fowler said, taking the napkin away from Starscream. "Can you breathe alright?"

The seeker took a few deep breaths and nodded. "It stings though."

"It'll pass. Put some ice on it though."

* * *

Breakdown had gone to take a plastic bag and some ice cubes from the fridge, happy to get away from the current situation even for a few minutes. When he returned the three Cons were sitting on the cough, Knock Out in between the two Commanders to prevent further conflicts. Megatron was frowning and stubbornly looking in opposite direction of the two younger humans and Knock Out was busy observing Starscream's nose.

Breakdown handed the bag of ice to the seeker and sat on the floor, facing his faction members.

Starscream winced when the coolness touched his burning nose. It was nasty and soothing at the same time.

A pain in his tummy caused him to whine miserably. It was like something was eating him from the inside. He was really hungry. Taking one last disgusted glance at the pizza, he grabbed a piece of it with his thumb and forefinger, much like it was poisonous. He gulped and took a bit from it, his face grimacing at the taste.

It wasn't that bad but it wasn't something he'd prefer to consume regularly either.

He ate in silence. Megatron had managed to keep his tongue behind his teeth, miraculously.

When Breakdown yawned quite loudly, Fowler decided to show them the sleeping quarters at the base. Luckily for the Cons, there were covers and blankets left in the wardrobe – enough for the two sets of bunker beds on each side of the room.

Breakdown and Knock Out occupied the beds on the left side, quickly putting the bed sheets and blankets on. It was going to be a chilly night.

Megatron didn't really have preferences about the sleeping arrangements. He wouldn't have cared at all which bed – bottom or top – he'd sleep in, had it not been obvious Starscream wanted the upper one.

The Warlord frowned upon his own childish behavior while climbing the ladder to the top bunk. Like Pits he was letting the seeker get his way.

The younger human muttered unhappily from bellow but was wise enough not to start another fight right then.

' _Typical!'_

It was getting very cold very quickly. The heating in this part of the building wasn't operating at all, as it was being ignored for year. Even the blankets they had weren't enough to warm the seeker. He curled up in a ball because of the low temperature and somehow managed to fall asleep after a good half an hour.

On the other side of the room, Knock Out was having the same problem. But unlike Starscream, he just couldn't sleep. He cursed his new pathetic body. How did this specie even survive for so many millennia?

He took a look at the bottom bunk only to see Breakdown, happily snoring and occupying the whole bed, not being visibly cold at all. Knock Out was planning on going down and settling in his friend's bed but there was no way they could both fit in these pathetically small beds.

His eyes found the shivering Starscream across the room though. Both the seeker and the medic were slim enough to sleep in one bed. And they were both cold, so why not sharing. Worst case scenario, Starscream kicks in his sleep or is a blanket hogger.

The redhead wrapped the sheets around himself protectively, made his way towards the seeker and slipped under the blankets, spooning Starscream from behind. After a few minutes they both stopped shivering and relaxed.

Two hours later, Starscream was woken up by an urgent need to visit the toilet. He cursed himself for not doing so before going to bed instead of postponing it for the dead of the night.

When he shuffled a little to wake up his limbs, he felt an extra weight on his waist, a warm body pressed against his back and tickling breaths on his neck. His heart beat fast in startle and he began to struggle against the embrace. The movements cause Knock Out to strengthen his hold and murmur unintelligibly in a half-awaken state of mind.

Starscream ceased his struggles after recognizing the redhead's voice. He relaxed a little bit. It felt kind of nice… comforting even. It's been so long since he'd felt a tender and friendly touch. He dragged himself out of bed reluctantly and went to the bathroom. After returning a few minutes later, Knock Out hadn't moved an inch and the seeker just slipped under the covers and retook his previous position, melting into the warm hands hugging him.

* * *

**The Morning.**

Ratchet had spent the whole night examining the prototype. It was an incredible piece of technology and he had been too curious to recharge because of it. He had made a considerable progress and was pleased with himself, though a bit concerned about his findings.

"Optimus, I think I discovered how the prototype works and how…no, when its effect ceases."

* * *

Thanks for reading :)


	6. Chapter 6

I hope my explanation of the situation is understandable!

Enjoy!

* * *

"Optimus, I think I discovered how the prototype works and how…no, when its effect ceases." said Ratchet, looking at his leader with a strange light in his eyes.

The blue and red mech nodded and waited for the other to continue.

"You know about a certain group among the scientists back on Cybertron?" the ambulance vented a sigh. "They used to be so obsessed with exploring new worlds and communicating with other sentient beings. A bit fanatical if you ask me."

Prime nodded again. He knew the community Ratchet was talking about. It had had quite the number of members. Most of them had boarded spaceships, had set course to foreign planets and had never returned. No one knew any of their courses or destinations, so a rescue party had never been sent.

"You think the ship we found yesterday belongs to them." It wasn't even a question; there was no reason for one anyway. "What do you suppose happened to the crew members? We found no remains."

The doctor's optics saddened. "There were no remains because they lost their Cybertronian frames." He signed again and poked the prototype. "This is very unstable. It requires further development before it can work properly without firing randomly. But those adequate scientists probably thought it was close enough to completion. My guess is the prototype activated when the ship crashed and turned the whole crew into the most 'advanced' life form on this planet."

"But it must have crashed at least a dozen thousands years ago."

"Yeah… The scientists...they are all dead, most likely. I don't think they were able to survive in their new bodies even for a few days. And even if they did survive for a while, it wasn't long enough to meet the requirements for the reversal process to activate."

"Reversal process? So, there is a way to return Megatron, Starscream, Knock Out and Breakdown back to their original frames?" Prime asked, a little bit of hope in his voice.

Ratchet looked him in the optics, a mixture of emotions playing on his face plates. He just couldn't decide exactly what his feelings about the whole situation were.

"Yes… kind of. There's nothing anyone but them can do. When the requirements are met, the reversal process will start on its own." the medic said, opening a hatch in the prototype to reveal a chart and instructions below it. "Now, as I mentioned, the scientist were kind of extreme in their methods. They firmly believed that one can get to know another species' true nature only by walking among them as one of them. And they considered such a mission successful only when they have experienced all possible basic emotions while in their new bodies."

Ratchet pointed at the chart to emphasize his words. Prime focused his optics on it as well. It consisted of two columns – the left one was smaller and named 'Primary Emotions' while the right one contained more information and held the title 'Secondary Emotions'.

The Autobot leader's optics quickly started reading.

 **Fear:** _Nervousness, Horror_

 **Sadness:** _Sympathy, Neglect, Shame, Disappointment, Sadness, Suffering_

 **Anger:** _Torment, Envy, Disgust, Rage, Exasperation, Irritation_

 **Surprise:** _Surprise_

 **Joy:** _Relief, Enthrallment, Optimism, Pride, Contentment, Zest, Cheerfulness_

 **Love:** _Longing, Lust, Affection_

When he finished the list he couldn't keep a small groan escaping his mouth plates. Some emotions would be easy to… achieve, if not achieved already, but others…

"Impossible, right?" Ratchet's voice cut Prime's train of thoughts. "Moreover, these emotions have to be caused by other humans and their behavior. But that included them as well because they would be human then. But even so, there's just no way that our resident Cons would feel all of these. Ever."

Optimus sighed. He could see the medic's point but refused to believe there was no hope.

"Do they have to experience all emotions each or as a group?"

"Ah yes! I forgot to explain that. They have to experience them as a group. I don't see how they'd succeed, Optimus." Ratchet looked in the Con's room direction and frowned.

A small smile found its way on Prime's lip components and his optics gleamed with mirth.

"Perhaps there's more to them that meets the eye."

Rathet eyed him like he had grown a second helm, a slightly crazed look in his optics. "You did not just say that…"

The Autobot leader continued as if he hadn't heard the medic at all. "Perhaps living as humans for awhile will change their perspective on life. Only time will tell. But for now, we shall not reveal to them the information you have found. This would only worsen the situation and have the potential to make it irreversible." All seriousness has returned to the Prime's face and demeanor. "Should they ask about our progress, tell them we are still working on it."

The medic's optics grew a fraction wider in surprise. "Lie to them?"

"It is for their own good, friend."

Ratchet nodded. He understood that Optimus wanted to help them. He probably felt responsible for what had happened to them. But the doctor wasn't sure he even wanted the Cons to get back to normal.

* * *

**Meanwhile.**

Breakdown was the first to wake up in the morning. His eyes opened lazily and took a few moments to focus. His fuzzy brain had forgotten that he was human now and the unfamiliar surroundings startled him enough to set him in motion. He rose quickly from his position lying on the bed. Unfortunately for him, the top bunk wasn't high enough and he banged his head against it. Wincing in pain he tried to get up but the sheets were all tangled around him. He struggled angrily with them for awhile, almost ripping the fabric in frustration. When he finally freed himself, he walked straight to the bathroom.

That… 'excretion' thing organics had to do was so bothersome! It was awfully weird. All in all, human bodies were strange. But the weirdest part for Breakdown was his chest. He felt as if he was lacking parts of himself. It was so…flat.

Then he thought of Starscream. He had lost his wings, he probably felt horrible because of it. Besides, seekers loved…no, _needed_ to fly. What would the jet do when his thirst to fly becomes too much?

Breakdown shook his head. There was no need to think about that. To distract himself, he looked at his reflection in the mirror. He didn't have time to observe his new face carefully the previous day. Something about his face was slightly different but he couldn't pinpoint it just yet. He kept staring for a good two minutes before he realized there were very tiny bits of hair growing on the lower part of his face.

Weird skin jobs…

A bang on the door cut his train of thoughts. He quickly opened it and was met by a very pissed off Megatron. Breakdown hurried to vacate the bathroom, avoiding eye contact with the angry Lord as much as possible. He wondered what had set him off so badly. Sure they were human and it sucked… and it was Megatron after all. But even so, such behavior was odd.

Once fully dressed, the blue Con peeked into Knock Out's bed only to find it empty. Strange. His friend was not one to wake up early, especially when he didn't have to. But where could he have gone?

He was about to leave their sleeping quarters in search for him when something red in Starscream's bed caught his eye. He moved closer to the sleeping Con and noticed the lump under the blankets was far bigger than it should be if it was only the seeker in there.

And he was correct. There were two bodies under the covers. Knock Out was practically lying on top of the seeker, efficiently trapping him between himself and the bed. Both humans were sleeping on their tummies with their limbs positioned in odd ways. There was a little trail of saliva from Starscream's mouth going to the pillow he was resting his head on. While Knock out's face was buried in the seeker's neck.

Breakdown couldn't stifle his chuckles at the sight. He reached for Knock Out's ear and run his forefinger on the edge. The feather light touch teased the medic and he moaned in displeasure, ducking his head further against Starscream's neck in order to avoid the annoying finger.

With a rush of air, the bathroom door opened forcibly and Megatron walked out, apparently in no better mood at all. He gave a dirty look in Breakdown's direction and stormed out of the room, shutting the door with a bang that miraculously didn't wake the sleeping Cons. They did groan in displeasure and shuffled a little though.

Breakdown bit his lower lip in order to stifle his chuckles again. For menacing evil and destructive Cons with psychopathic tendencies, they sure as heck looked cute in their human forms, cuddled up to each other like sparklings/children/whatever.

The big human felt kind of like a creep, watching them while they were sleeping. But he didn't really want to go out of the room; he might take the brunt of Megatron's inexplicable anger. And he'd rather avoid that. Maybe it was a good idea to take a shower - it would make the time pass. Maybe their leader would calm down by then. Hopefully. With that thought, Breakdown headed to the bathroom again.

* * *

**Meanwhile, Megatron.**

Megatron stormed out of their new sleeping quarters, angrily slamming the door which won him a warning look from the Prime. The Decepticon Lord felt like a scolded child so he turned his head sideways to express his defiance and took off in the direction of the nearest corridor leading to unoccupied spaces of the base.

Ratchet was about to yell at the impudent Con when he was interrupted by a warm servo on his shoulder. He looked Prime quizzically but the larger bot just shook his helm.

"You have done well, old friend. I suggest you recharge now, there is no need to put unnecessary strain on yourself."

The medic just nodded. His leader had a point - there was nothing more he could do here. He sighed and with one last dirty look in Megatron's direction left for his recharge quarters.

Prime quickly caught up with the Decepticon lord, much to the human's displeasure. The two of them just walked around the desolate parts of the base for good half an hour. There was nothing to be seen – only empty hallways covered with spider webs and dust. Overall, it was not a pleasant place to be, not really safe either.

Megatron was getting more and more riled up with every step he took. He wanted to go for a walk to blow off some steam but he got stuck with his mortal enemy instead. The Prime's presence just irritated the warlord further and he started to growl unintentionally.

Optimus heard the threatening sounds coming from the human but decided not to comment on it. After a few more minutes of random and aimless roaming, Megatron had had enough of everything! He spun on the heels of his feet and faced the Prime with a nasty grimace on his face. He felt somewhat strange, having to look up towards others in order to speak to them. He wasn't used to it.

"Why are you following me around? Certainly you have more pressing matters to attend to."

"I cannot afford to let you wander loosely around this facility, Megatron. You may not have any means of escaping this place but you can cause damage to the base, even as a human."

The Con's eyebrows drew together. Of course Prime would follow him because of security reasons. The mech didn't do stuff for kicks after all. But the tyrant was mildly proud that the Autobot leader thought he was still able of destruction even in his pathetic organic shell. But before he could prepare his reply, the Prime spoke again.

"Now that you mentioned it, I do have a meeting to attend to soon. We are returning to the Command Center now."

Megatron was firmly standing his ground though. "You cannot command me!" The human was outraged. He would not take orders from others, especially not from _**Prime!**_ The Autobot leader didn't look surprised at all by the outburst.

"I do not attempt to command you, Megatron. But I cannot leave you here especially when you do not know the way back."

The warlord blinked stupidly a few times before the words sunk in. He truly had no idea where he was or how to return. He had been too angry to pay attention to that and he had no internal navigation systems anymore. Moreover, he had no idea how massive the base was. If he took his chance and roamed on his own, it might take him hours or even days before he finds his way to the Command Center again. He growled at the realization that he had to obey the Autobot. He was totally dependant on him at the moment. Scrap!

Prime watched with interest the emotions playing on Megatron's face. But he had no time to lose anymore. He could not even afford the human's slow walking pace. He was half-unwilling and half-amused to just grab the tyrant and walk the rest of the way faster. And in the end, that was what he did.

"Apologies, Megatron. But I cannot afford to lose anymore time." The Prime's deep voice registered in the human's ears but before he had time to comprehend the meaning he was gently swoop off the ground by the collar of his uniform by two huge metal fingers. The tyrant cried out in surprise and quickly cursed himself for making such an undignified sound. He tried to wiggle and fight his way out of the hold but his puny arms didn't want to go that much up and backwards as he needed.

Optimus tightened his grip on the cloth and brought Megatron to his optics level.

"Megatron, cease the struggling. If I drop you now, at this height, the fall could cause severe damage to your body or even death."

The tyrant's countless vorns of experience in battle and his sturdy frame had made him forget what fear felt like. But now, in this weak organic shell, uneasiness slowly crept back into his spark…heart. He relaxed a bit when Prime eased him in his open palm. But the jerky motion that was caused by every step the Autobot took did nothing to calm him further. He managed to stop himself from reaching towards Prime's thumb and grabbing on it for support. That would have been utter humiliation!

* * *

**Meanwhile, Breakdown.**

Breakdown was done with his bath. He peeked into the Command Center through the tiny gap the slightly open door provided. There was no sign of Megatron or anyone else for that matter. He waited a few seconds and exited the sleeping quarters. Now that he could take his time to look around more, he noticed the space wasn't really that big. Sure, for humans it was, but for the Autobots – it was quite small actually. The Nemesis was so much better! Even creepy Soundwave and stupid drones couldn't make it worse than that.

He climbed the stairs to the platform with the sofa and sat on the comfy furniture.

It was so quite. Eerily so. There was not a single sound, not even the soothing humming of powered up technology. Some of the lights were on but just barely. The Nemesis was usually dim as well but somehow the Autobot base gave him the creeps. Not surprisingly though – he was a weak tiny organic in the enemy's lair. They could crush him like a bug at any time they see fit.

A loud and sudden creak of metal sliding over metal caused the Con to jump in alarm, his widened eyes darting around the room until he found the source of the ungodly sound.

It was Bulkhead opening a door. The green mech had just exited his recharge room and was stretching and yawning soundly. His optics were barely open, sleepiness still lingering on them. He strolled around before he noticed Breakdown. Optics met eyes and they just stared blankly at each other, awkwardness rising with every second which seemed to stretch longer than the usual.

"Uh…good morning?" the Con said, desperately trying to break the silence and the staring.

Bulkhead blinked stupidly a few times and returned the greetings with equal awkwardness.

"How did you recharge?"

"Fine. You?"

"Alright."

More silence.

"Why don't you turn the TV on?" Bulkhead asked while moving closer to the platform with the couch on it, resting his servos on the handrails.

"The what?" Breakdown's eyebrows were drawn together in confusion.

"The TV. The box on the table over there. It's a video transmitting device, sort of."

"Oh." So that was the resident entertainment unit. "How do I turn it on?"

"The remote. It's the black thing with buttons. Just click the red one." The green mech informed, pointing his finger towards the table.

Breakdown took the remote and clicked the red button. The TV powered up with a static noise and a few seconds later a man with a strange looking long stick showed on the screen. The human just sat there and stared at the lake before, all of a sudden, he jumped in alarm and started pulling the stick out of the water until some sort of organic came out of it and twisted its body in the air.

The Con's eyes widened and his jaw slackened at the sight. He didn't know what to make of it, it looked seriously weird.

' _Weird organics'_

"Go up a few channels."

*click* *click* *click*

' _Cars, nice!'_

* * *

**Meanwhile, Starscream and Knock Out.**

The two humans were still fast asleep but their position had changed. Starscream was lying on his back while Knock Out was still face-down and half on top of him. The seeker began to wake up unhurriedly. His eyes remained closed even though his fuzzy brain was starting to comprehend the situation and slowly remembering what had happened the previous day. He really hoped it had been just a horrible terrible nightmare but alas, it was not.

He tried to move but the weight of another human on him was not helping. His muscles were still half-asleep and he didn't have the energy to push the other off entirely. He shook the redhead slightly to wake him up but the other just shuffled a bit and remained asleep. During the motion, something hard had brushed at Starscream's thigh.

"Knock Out, take your hand off my thigh. No, get the whole of you off of me!"

Nothing happened. The other was still asleep, seemingly not registering even a word the brunet had uttered. That didn't sit well with the seeker so he shook the medic harsher. Some unintelligible gibberish followed, as well as more pressing touching on Starscream's leg.

"KNOCK OUT!" the shrill scream in the redhead's ear was more than enough to wake him up. He jumped back in surprise taking the tangled bed sheets with him. They in turn hauled the seeker. Both humans fell on the floor, Starscream crashing on top of Knock Out and successfully knocking the air out of his lungs.

Starscream felt a pressure against his leg again. He was confused though because he could clearly see both of Knock Out's hands and they were not even close to his thighs. But if it wasn't the hands, what was touching his leg? Whatever it was, its persistence irritated the seeker and he pushed his thigh back against it. The motion earned him a cry of pain and something else from the medic.

"F-frag, Sta-Starscream, g-get off!" the redhead rasped, his breath coming short.

The taller human was somewhat disturbed by the reaction so he complied and rolled off the other Con. Knock Out's hands immediately went between his legs and cupped the flesh that was there protectively. The seeker was observing him. He was still confused. He had seen the…thing between his legs, even used it to… 'take a leak'. It had been completely flaccid. And whatever had been pressing against his thigh definitely wasn't.

The medic took a deep breath to calm himself. He looked in Starscream's direction and saw the confusion on the seeker's face. He almost laughed at the sight. Seriously, couldn't Starscream even guess what was going on?

"Isn't this," he made a gesture with his head towards the hands covering his crotch "reminding you of a certain something Cybertronians have in the same place?" Knock Out asked curiously, his left brow curving upwards in question.

The seeker tilted his head on one side in confusion and contemplation. He didn't seem to get what the other Con was talking about. But the medic was patient and waited for a few moments until Starscream's mind came to a realization, causing his eyes to widen and his mouth to form a 'o' in shock. Knock Out bit his lips to suppress his grin. The seeker seemed so adorably innocent… until his face twisted in a nasty grimace.

"Ew, ew, ew, EW!"

"Oh come one, Starscream. It's just the fleshy version of a spike." Regardless of his words, Knock Out found it somewhat odd that it was just hanging out while not… pressurized. It was weird to begin with. Moreover, it was terribly sensitive, which made it a weak spot during battles. It was inconvenient.

The seeker's eyes had narrowed and were sending the medic icy glares.

"If it's just the fleshy version of a spike, then do explain me why was it pressurized?" the words were hissed out.

"Huh? Oh, I don't know, I was asleep." Knock Out answered truthfully. He wondered though, why had it pressurized indeed?

"You seriously expect me to believe that?! Spikes don't just pressurize themselves, Knock Out!" Starscream's voice was getting shriller.

"Well, maybe fleshy ones do!"

"That's ridiculous! Besides, it just happened to pressurize when you were all over me in bed!" the seeker retorted sourly while his cheeks were gradually reddening.

"What are you implying?"

"That you're a pervert."

"Wow, wow, slow down. I may be sometimes but this was not the case here. I swear I was asleep and had no control over it!"

Starscream was looking at Knock Out somehow disbelievingly. But they really didn't know much about humans so perhaps the other was right. Either way, the seeker decided to give his fellow Con the benefit of the doubt. But not that much benefit.

"You're not sleeping in my bed anymore!"

Knock Out didn't agree with the idea but wasn't going to argue about it. He would just sneak in the seeker's bed when he was already asleep.

The two Cons dressed up quickly and went to the Command Center. When they exited their sleeping quarters, they froze in place, shocked by the sight before them.

There were Breakdown and Bulkhead, lively chatting like friends about something and gesturing towards a box with moving images on it. How long had they slept? But before they had time to shake off the strange images that were just branded into their brains, Prime showed from a dark corridor on the left. The blue and red mech wasted no time and gently put Megatron on the sofa, next to Breakdown. Then, he turned to face his teammate.

"Bulkhead, I have a meeting to attend to in 10 minutes. Please, escort our guests to a city where they can order food. I believe they are hungry by now."

"But—" his reply was cut of by the finality in the Autobot leader's optics.

"You are the best suited for this. Your alt mode makes you the best candidate to escort them while they are in these uniforms."

Bulkhead vented a sigh. He really wished he had chosen another alt mode. Maybe it won't be all that horrible. Hopefully.

But when he saw four sets of untrusting eyes staring at him, his optimistic thinking wasn't so optimistic anymore

"So, who's hungry?"

* * *

Thanks for reading :)


	7. Chapter 7

* * *

"So, who's hungry?" asked Bulkhead.

The four Decepticons stared at him with various levels of distrust, those of Starscream and Megatron's - the most prominent ones.

A somehow distant sound of Ground bridge activating announced Prime's departure from the base. However, no one even looked in his direction as they all were too busy calculating each other's intentions.

After an agonizingly slow minute, Bulkhead had had enough of it. He transformed into his vehicle mode and opened all four doors. The sudden movement of the Autobot startled the Cons a little but they hid it as well as they could.

"Well, are you coming in or not? I don't have all day!" the green mech was far from happy with the situation. Having a bunch of enemies fiddling around his sensitive insides was not in his 'to do' list for the day. But orders were orders and he was going to complete his task even if he had to force the humans along the way.

Breakdown was the first to move towards the green vehicle. The earlier time spent together with Bulkhead had managed to ease the tension between them considerably. The human settled himself on the back seat, behind the driver's one. His actions seemed to have affected his fellow Cons positively. They all shuffled and approached the car, still somewhat warily.

Megatron was the next to hop in the vehicle, in the driver's seat of course. He knew little-t—nothing about automobiles but this particular seat was a little different from the rest – special. And that meant it was his to take.

Starscream was the most dubious of all. However, when Knock Out was readying himself to take the other front seat, he sprung into action. He was not about to let someone else take his rightful place! He might have wished to stay away from Megatron's reach but he'd be damned if he had to sit in the back of the car! There was just no way!

He grabbed the redhead at the collar and dragged him away from the seat. The action drew a pained sound from Knock Out, chocking him a little. But seeing the stormy and determined expression on the seeker's face, he decided it was better to just silently go and sit at the back with Breakdown. He may have never respected Starscream's authority much but he had learned when to stop pushing him.

Bulkhead had remained silent, waiting for the humans to take their seats. When they all did, he closed his doors with a little too much force than really necessary.

"Strap on your seat belts. I don't wanna hafta clean up if you break your heads or whatever,"

And he didn't want to fail his mission neither.

Breakdown and Knock Out quickly obliged, knowing what to do because of the alt modes they had. Megatron and Starscream, on the other hand, had no clue what a seat belt was. And they didn't like to ask and expose their lack of knowledge, no matter what area was concern. As unnoticeably as they could, they observed their fellow Cons and copied their actions.

Bulkhead had already activated the Ground Bridge before transforming into his vehicle mode. Once everything was ready, he drove into it, the green spinning light dissolving behind him after he crossed the bridge.

Not a couple of minutes later, the Autobot heard a groan from the back seat but decided to ignore it.

"Can't you go any faster than this? We're hardly moving at all!" Knock Out whined overdramatically. Bulkhead decided to ignore him and continue to drive at the same speed, even slowing a bit. The medic was not impressed though. But if that's how he wanted to play, then fine.

"Hm, I bet you just need the right motivation." Knock Out sing-songed, shifting in his place to allow himself movement towards the front of the car. With a grin on his face, he grabbed the shift gear and squeezed it. Bulkhead's reaction was instantaneous – he beeped in surprise and involuntarily speeded up considerably. The sudden increase in speed earned him a couple of angry shouts from the other drivers around him but he couldn't care about them at the moment.

Once Knock Out was satisfied with the speed, he let go of the shift gear and leaned back in his seat, proud smirk plastered on his face. When Bulkhead came to his senses again, he just wanted to make a really nasty turn to the left so he could get the Con to smack his head at the door's window. Unfortunately, he couldn't do that at the moment so he settled for threatening instead.

"Keep your dirty hands to yourself, Con! Or I'll break them!"

Knock Out faked a yawn, clearly unimpressed by the threat.

Megatron and Starscream had no idea what had just happened. They were really starting to regret not learning more about the ground-based vehicles. Not knowing what's going on was something both of them hated with passion.

Breakdown, on the other hand, was more than aware of the situation. Knock Out's actions took him completely by surprise. The only thing he was able to do was widen his eyes, drop his mouth and slightly blush. Sure the medic was a flirt, a tease and quite frankly – brazen most of the time. Thus, the act shouldn't had surprised him much but it had. Seems like all these human hormones were increasing the redhead's libido and decreasing his respect for personal space and whatsoever. That was bound to be a real pain in the aft…

Bulkhead did his best to calm down and ignore what had just happened. Instead, he focused his processor on his mission. Prime had ordered him to take the humans to eat somewhere. But as uneducated as they were about other humans, virtually any populated place would've been a bad idea. And the green Autobot couldn't intervene either. That would be even worse than whatever the Decepticons could say or do. Thus, he had decided to go to a place where he wouldn't have to worry too much about any eventual slip.

With that thought in mind, he drove in the narrow alley at the fast-food restaurant, stopping at the window.

"Welcome to KO Drive In. May I take your order, please?" Jack asked politely but tiredly, taking his time to face the new client. He heard laughing and the name of the restaurant being mentioned. Then an irritated voice told the first one to shut it up. He decided to pay no mind to them though.

"It's me, Bulkhead."

Jack whipped his head towards the Autobot. He was unsure why the green mech was here of all places. He didn't have much time to ponder on that question. The driver seat window slid down and revealed the very unfriendly and dangerous face of Megatron. The Decepticon leader's eyes widened a fraction in recognition. He never forgets a face after all. He smiled nastily at Jack, getting pleasure from the ridiculous look the boy was giving him.

"Look, it's a long story. Bottom line is – Megatron and company are now humans and I gotta feed them. So, just give 'em some food and we'll be outta here."

The boy's jaw dropped. He had somehow got used to weird things but this was just… no.

A loud beep and a 'Hurry Up' from the queue cleared his mind a little and he collected four sets of the regular meal boxes and handed them to Megatron. Then looked at the Cons again and added another two boxes. When he was done calculating the price, Bullhead's glove compartment clicked open and hit Starscream across the knees. The seeker yelled in surprise and pain, which earned him a glare from Megatron.

"The little green papers inside, you see 'em? Give them to Jack."

The ex-jet reached for the money inside but Megatron grabbed them first, forcibly closing the compartment after that and dropping the boxes of food in Starscream's lap. The slim man growled but didn't comment on it.

After Megatron paid up, Bulkhead said his thanks and goodbye to Jack and drove off, leaving a very disturbed boy behind.

Starscream dumped three of the boxes to the back seat, not bothering to even look where he was throwing them and opened his own one. A foul smell hit his nose and he snarled at the burger and fries inside.

"That's horrible! Is every piece of food on this slagged planet so awful?!" the seeker grimaced even more when he opened the burger to see what's inside. He felt his stomach twist in distaste and he suddenly wasn't hungry at all.

This time, however, he wasn't the only one unhappy with the food selection. Knock Out was having similar but even stronger reaction – slamming the offensive piece of food back into the box and handing it to Breakdown.

"That's slag. It eludes me how it even passes as edible."

Bulkhead grunted at that. "It's food, just eat it!"

"No, I don't think so. And I bet Starscream here will agree with me." Knock Out said, taking the burger out of the box once more and opening it. "Just take us to another place to get a better kind of food. Or should I persuade you again? Maybe smearing this" he shakes the two halves of burger in his hands." all over your interior will do the trick? It'd be a pain to get the smell out of your seats."

' _Sadistic little slag!'_

"The only places with drive ins have food like that. And you're not trustworthy or civil enough to be let out!" Bulkhead growled.

"Aww, we'll behave.~" Knock Out insisted nodding his head, Starscream joining him soon after.

"I really don't see what the problem with the burgers is. They aren't that bad…" Breakdown murmured before taking a huge bite from his already second burger. The two slim men let out a sound of repulsion at the sight, stating once again their distaste.

Meanwhile Megatron was silently devouring his portion, trying his best to ignore his soldiers and their whining. Starscream and Knock Out were a dangerous duo when their interests crossed. The tyrant knew that from personal experience. And they were both persistent. The green Autobo may not know it yet, but the two Cons were going to make him buy them different food before they returned to the base. Megatron was certain of that.

After a dozen minutes of bitching and moaning and one burger being almost smeared on his interior, Bulkhead gave in. He was used to Miko being…well - Miko. But the combined power of Starscream and Knock Out was more than his nerves could bear. He wasn't going to let them out of course. And that meant someone had to do the shopping for them.

The green mech vented a sigh and dialed Miko's cell phone. This was going to be such a catastrophe… But she was bound to find out sooner or latter. It was better if he told her. In this case at least she can't be mad at him for not letting her know.

"Heeello!~" a cheerful high pitched voice answered the call.

"Hey, Miko, it's Bulkhead."

"Hey, Bulk, watcha doing? Can we go for a ride? Can we, can we? Please! It's so boring with the foster parents!" the voice was dropping and rising after every few words, making it very clear for everyone to distinguish the emotions behind.

"Uh yeah… sure, we can. Uh, look, Miko, you hafta do me favour ok?"

"Yeah, anything! Just say the words!"

"Yeah well, buy several boxes of sushi and come to Jack's workplace. I'll explain later." The green mech said, almost regretting the words leaving his vocaliser.

There were a few seconds of silence from the other side of the line, followed by - "Okay! See you in 15 then!"

Bulkhead hung up, venting another heavy sigh.

Knock Out had put the burger inside its box once again and was smirking satisfactory at the victory. Starscream was pleased he'd get another type of food as well. However…

"Was that your annoying human pet?" the seeker flicked his tongue in distaste.

Bulkhead didn't take lightly the insult to Miko. His engines roared and his voice boomed into the carriage. "She is not annoying. And she's NOT my PET!"

Starscream was about to retort to that but a well-placed glare of doom from Megatron made him reconsider. He turned his head towards the window in a childish manner. Even though he wasn't greatly interested in the humans, the seeker took his time observing them while waiting for his food. He got bored after a while though. As entertaining as crying fleshbag sparklings were, it was a pain to the ears. He re-focused his attention on the sky. He had been flightless for less than a day but he already missed the freedom of the sky.

He didn't have enough time to contemplate on his sky hunger though. Not long after the call, Miko appeared, running from behind the corner with two big plastic bags in hands. When she neared the green vehicle she squinted her eyes at the four men inside. Bulkhead opened his left back door and told Breakdown to make room for her. She hopped in without a question but quickly examined the unfamiliar faces.

"Oh cool, military! Do you have a super secret mission with Bulk?" she beamed at the closest man to her – Breakdown.

"Er…sorta…" the Con answered confusedly, looking at Knock Out for help. But the red head just shrugged.

"Miko," Bulkhead began. "they are not from the military. They aren't even humans… I mean, now they are but …uh, never mind. Long story short – these are Cons turned humans…" he finally said, waiting for the inevitable outburst.

"WHAT?!"

"Yeah, Megatron's in the driving seat, Starscream next to him and Breakdown and Knock Out are with you on the back seat…"

Miko went silent for a second until the information sank in. The followed reaction was nothing short of what Bulkhead was expecting. The girl let out a scream of anger and disbelief and launched for Megatron's neck, profusely threatening him. But before her hands had the change to tighten around the man's neck, Breakdown grabbed her elbows and crossed her arms across her chest, successfully ceasing the attack.

However, he had underestimated the girl greatly. She tried to bit him and failed but a well-placed knee in the crotch did the job. The big Con yelped in pain, releasing her completely in order to cup protectively his sensitive and hurt parts. Knock Out winced in compassion next to him and patted his friend on the back in a sympathetic gesture.

"Yeah, uh, forgot to tell you about that… … The pain should pass soon though."

A gasped sarcastic 'great' was all Breakdown could utter, still doubling over in agony.

Meanwhile Bulkhead had somehow managed to calm Miko down. She was still fuming but had stopped trying to severely harm others. But that didn't mean she was ok with the situation, or even realizing said situation.

"I don't understand. You're enemies with the Decepticreeps! Why are you feeding them?! You should uh, terminate them or something! At least put them in the brig!"

"It's complicated. But orders are orders, Miko. And I trust Prime's decisions." The green mech said as calmly as possible. He needed the girl to understand and accept his reasons.

Miko bit her lip and lowered her head thoughtfully. Then muttered a quite 'alright'.

Having a temporarily cease-fire, Knock Out didn't lose time demanding his food. Miko growled at him and throw the plastic bags straight at his face. The medic growled right back but held any comments he had. He quickly opened the first bag and pulled out a flat rectangular box from it. But before he had a chance to open it, a green light announced the appearance of a ground bridge. Bulkhead was taking them back to base.

At the Autobot outpost, Bumblebee and Raf were already waiting for them. The yellow bot had explained the situation to his human friend, with a lot of animated gestures of course. The boy had been initially surprised but was very interested in the technology of the prototype. And even though he wasn't dancing with desire to meet dangerous Decepticons-turned-humans, he couldn't deny it would be an interesting event.

Getting across the Ground Bridge, Bulkhead opened all of his doors and waited for the passengers to hop off. When all did, he transformed and changed footing awkwardly.

"Somebody care to explain to me what happened?!" Miko's screaming was followed by a long explanation from Bulkhead's part. That, turned out into a long ride before taking her beck to her home. She needed time to cool off a little bit.

Meanwhile, the Cons had made themselves comfortable at the sofa. Though this time, Breakdown ended up on the floor while Starscream was stuck between Megatron and Knock Out on the couch.

The two slim men were examining their sushi and the utensils accompanying it. Seeing the drawing instructions they positioned the chopsticks the way it was shown and made their first try to grab some food with them. It was a complete failure for both of them. They tried a few more times, getting slightly better at it but still not good enough to hold the pieces of food long enough to put them in their mouths.

Megatron was observing their pitiful attempts and snorted in mockery. Starscream's sensitive hearing immediately caught the sound and his head whipped in the tyrant's direction.

"You think you can do better?!" he snarled, handing the chopsticks to Megatron but keeping the box in his own hands.

The Decepticon Leader had never been one to turn down a challenge so he grabbed the chopsticks from Starscream's hands and attempted to use them.

He failed as well, even more so than the other two. The seeker's laughter rang in the large space. Megatron was taken aback by it. It held a certain note of mockery of course. But it was… different. It reminded him about his SIC at the beginning of the war…

He closed his eyes and shook his head slightly to cease his train of thoughts. When he finally came to his senses, Starscream had already snatched the chopsticks back. He had somehow managed to master them as well because he had gotten through half of the box already.

Meanwhile Knock Out had learned how to use them as well and was trying his best to teach Breakdown. But the other's thick and strong fingers were not cooperating at all. He eventually gave up after he broke his second set of chopsticks.

Bumblebee had left the base with Raf, leaving Ratchet to look after the Cons. And the medic was especially grumpy after waking up from recharge.

For the rest of the day, the men watched what humans called 'television'. They had mixed feelings about it. And their tastes were quite different so it was almost impossible to choose which channel to watch. Eventually it became a full-out war for the remote. When Ratchet had had enough, he sent them all to their sleeping quarters.

None of them were happy being ordered around but they complied nonetheless. They quietly prepared themselves for bed and Megatron and Breakdown fall asleep almost instantaneously after hitting the pillow. Just like the night before, the coldness didn't seem to bother them at all. It did bother the other two though. Starscream was shivering again, trying his best to hide it. He had forbidden Knock Out to come to his bed again and now he was starting to seriously regret his decision. But he couldn't invite the other Con in either! The seeker knew Knock Out had never been keen on following his orders so perhaps if he feinted sleep the other would eventually sneak into his bed?

It was worth the try.

Relaxing his body and taking long and deep breaths, Starscream put his plan into action. His little act was successful enough to set Knock Out in motion. The red head quietly left his own bed and tip-toed across the room to sneak into the seeker's bed. Seeing no violent reaction to that, he embraced the other from behind and buried his face into the offered neck. His cold nose, however, surprised Starscream enough to make the seeker shiver and yelp at its touch.

Knock Out froze at that. He expected a dirty kick to a very sensitive area any second now. But instead of that, all that the seeker did was to freeze as well. _Busted._

"You pretended to be asleep, didn't you?" the red head teased, nibbling at the others ear. That, however, did got him an elbow to the tummy.

"Shut up! Just go to sleep!"

"Aye, aye, Commander.~"

* * *

_Thanks for reading! :)_


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First, I'd like to apologize for not updating for so long! Again.. But I haven't given up on either of my stories and I do intend on finishing them.
> 
> And second, thank you all for your wonderful comments. It makes my day every time I read you guys like my story. But let's clear a few things.
> 
> \- No one else is turning human - no Soundwave, no other Decepticons, not the Autobots.
> 
> \- I've gotten obsessed over KOxSS far more than when I started writing the story so expect more KOxSS than MegaStar. I'm really sorry for changing the main pairing several chapters into the story. I simply like the idea of a seeker needing two mates (rather than one) to simulate a trine. I see Knock Out and Starscream more easily becoming friends and fooling around with each other as humans. While Megatron needs time to cool off and not strangle Starscream on the spot. So MegaStar in later chapters. Once again - I'm really sorry for kind of tricking you guys!
> 
> \- Knock Out is a major flirt (partly because of his raging hormones and partly because of his usual personality). He'd try to hit on many humans, including Breakdown sometimes. But I'd like to make something crystal clear - there'll be no KOxBD. None. I've tried to write the pairing but for me they are simply friends. I can't see the appeal of the ship and quite frankly - I don't like it. So there's that. There'll be only friendship between them.
> 
> \- I think I saw a comment suggesting Megatron flirts with June to make Optimus jealous - there'll be none of that either. Actually, there'll be no OptimusxJune at all.
> 
> I think there were more things I had to say but I don't remember right now. May update the list later if I think of anything to add.

Breakdown was the first to wake up just like the previous morning. He had no desire to meet a very angry morning Megatron this time though so he left the sleeping quarters as quickly and quietly as possible. When he entered the Command Center there was no-one there yet. However, there was an addition of a sort to the room. It looked unfamiliar but then again – many human things were unfamiliar to the Decepticons. Breakdown decided to investigate and neared the corner where the new things were positioned.

On further inspection, it seemed like part of it was a tabletop with a couple of huge drawers beneath and above it and with a built-in sink. The Con wondered what would one need the drawers for but he decided not to question it much further. Organics were weird creatures anyway.

He continued his inspection of the big white box near the table top. It was sleek and metallic which made it somehow familiar by default. Breakdown run his fingers along the cool surface for a second before noticing the handle and grabbed it. He opened the box slowly and cold air washed over his face. When he opened it wide he noticed all the food inside. It seemed it was the humans' equivalent of the room where Cybertronians stored their energon.

Breakdown was a little surprised by all the food and drinks he found inside. Such diversity was unfamiliar to him. Cybertronians had different types of energon but it was nothing compared to the diversity of the humans' food and drinks. The Con was unsure how to consume half of the things that were inside the fridge so he just took the familiar burgers and a can of coke and closed the fridge again.

He unwrapped the burger and took a big bite. He frowned at the food though. There was something weird about it even though it looked the same. He mused for a couple of seconds before realizing the burger was cold instead of warm. It wasn't bad but it was… different. Regardless, Breakdown was the one who enjoyed the human food the most out of the four Decepticons. He wouldn't mind tasting many different dishes while he was stuck as an organic.

With the burgers and soda in hands, he made his way towards the sofa and the TV. He sat comfortably on the yellow furniture and turned the TV on as Bulkhead has taught him the previous. He switched channel after channel until his attention was captured by two male humans punching each other in some kind of arena. Violent organics…

Meanwhile…

Megatron had woken up mere minutes after Breakdown had left the sleeping quarters. He was lying in bed and staring at the bare white ceiling. He was desperately trying to come up with a plan for them to regain their Cybertronian frames and be rid of those organic shells once and for all. But no matter how much he thought about it, nothing came to mind. He was no scientist! Starscream and Knock Out had better chances of developing a solution to their predicament but they were both busy doing nothing! Like always. Egoistic worthless little—

A groan from the bed below caught Megatron's attention. What the—?

At first he thought he had misheard so he strained his hearing and after a few seconds another groan followed. No mistake. And this one was slightly louder and more… Megatron wasn't sure how to describe it. What were the two glitches doing? His curiosity won after a pathetically short time and he shifted in his bed, moving to the edge and peeking at the bed below. What he saw made his lip curl in a snarl. There was Knock Out sprawled on his back, taking too much space. But what was actually making Megatron angry was the way Starscream was clinging to the medic's side, one arm and leg thrown over Knock Out's torso. He was hugging the other. Hugging. Decepticons hugging. The Decepticon's Second in Command and Air Commander hugging. It was beyond ridiculous and disgusting. Hugging was for meek Autobots, not for Decepticons!

Megatron was seconds away from going down there and prying Starscream off of the redhead. But the next groan stopped him in mid-thought. The sound has grown even more in volume and the warlord could clearly see now that it was accompanied by some movements as well. The SIC's lithe body slid along Knock Out's and his face buried in the other's offered neck, muffling the next groan that escaped Starscream's lips.

Megatron furrowed his brows in confusion. Was the seeker having a nightmare? But it didn't look quite right. He knew Starscream's pathetic sounds of misery, each and every one of them was all too well-known to him. But none of them came even closer to the one he was hearing at that moment.

His wandering thoughts were cut by a particularly loud moan from Starscream, followed by a strangled noise of surprise from Knock Out. Megatron quickly focused on what was going on on the bed below only to see the medic rubbing his neck, his movements slow and his eyes still trying to open and failing. Seemed like Starscream had bit him. At least that didn't come as a surprise to the warlord.

Meanwhile, the seeker uncurled himself from Knock Out. Megatron noticed how confused and alert he looked before suddenly shifting jerky and bolting from the bed. His eyes darted to his front and he run straight into the bathroom, slamming the door with enough force to make the medic jolt upright, wide awake.

Both Cons looked to the bathroom door in confusion. Weird behavior was nothing new for treacherous Starscream but it didn't make sense right then. Megatron heaved a sigh and rubbed his temples before climbing down from his berth. He quickly changed in his day clothes and moved to leave the sleeping quarters.

"Knock Out," the medic's head sharply turned towards Megatron at the sound of his name. "See what's wrong with Starscream and fix it. The last thing we need right now is him malfunctioning."

The medic opened his mouth to argue he didn't know how to fix humans but a stern look from Megatron quickly shut him up. He gulped nervously as the door clicked shut after the warlord. He decided not to waste time and risk angering his lord so he quickly made his way towards the bathroom and knocked on it loud enough to be heard over the sound of running water.

"Starscream..? Are you okay?"

Meanwhile, Starscream.

Starscream rushed into the bathroom, locking the door and resting his back against it. He unfastened his trousers and took them off swiftly only to grimace and gag at the mess inside. Revolting! It looked like Knock Out hadn't been lying about not being in control of his interface equipment. Nasty disobedient fleshy bodies! Doing whatever they like and not even warning him first!

The seeker removed his shirt as well and stepped into the shower, eager to wash this mess from himself. The water calmed him down just a little bit before his mind finally moved from "the mess in his pants" towards the "what if Knock Out realized what he has done?!".

Starscream's eyes bulged at the thought, uncomfortable warmth rushing to his cheeks and neck while his heart beat faster and faster. That'd be the utter humiliation! Especially after accusing the medic of being a pervert. He covered his face with his cold fingers and slid down the wall of the shower. His thoughts raced inside his head, uncertainty and shame making the seeker cringe. But all that was interrupted by a knock on the door, followed by Knock Out's .. concerned voice.

"Starscream..? Are you okay?"

The seeker didn't reply, hoping the other would go away. But Knock Out just waited a few seconds before calling Starscream again, this time with more urgency.

"Starscream! Are you conscious? Answer me, damn you!"

The seeker lifted his head slightly and screeched loudly enough for the other to hear through the door and the noise of running water. "Go away, Knock Out!"

"Can't do that. Now why don't you unlock the door and tell the doctor what happened hm?"

Starscream's eye twitched at the words, irritation replacing his embarrassment for a little while. How dare Knock Out talk to him as if he was some kid! He was dead set on not opening the door and now he was even more determined not to do it.

"Don't coddle me! I'm not a sparkling!" the seeker's voice trembled with anger and he had to stop himself for a second before continuing. "Go away or I swear I'll—"

"You'll what? Glare at me meanly through the door?" the medic's words were followed by an amused chuckle that made Starscream's blood boil. "Come on, Commander, come out. You'll have to eventually."

"No!"

"Yes.~"

"NO!"

"Yes, you'll have to. You can either come out now or you can wait for Megatron to break through the door when he finally needs to use the bathroom. The choice if yours."

Knock Out smirked at the following silence from Starscream. He knew he'd hit a bull's-eye. It was only a matter of minutes until the seeker finally accepted the facts and came out willingly. Knock Out changed in his day clothes and returned to the bed he shared with Starscream. He sat comfortably on it and waited for the other. His self-satisfaction was short-lived though as he remembered he had to figure out what was wrong with Starscream. And he had no adequate knowledge of the human anatomy. And if there was something physically wrong with the seeker, Knock Out had to way of finding it out, let alone fix it.

The redhead bit his lower lip in worry and let his head rest in his hand. He remained that way for several minutes before the bathroom's door cracked open. His eyes darted towards the door and the steam that was coming out from there.

It was not long before Starscream made his way out of, reluctance still apparent in his steps. He only had a tower wrapped around his waist. Knock Out was quick to take advantage of the view and trailed his gaze from the human's toes all the way up to his eyes before he smiled sweetly and tilted his head in appreciation. Human bodies were still a little weird to him but he had learned to like them somehow. Perhaps it was the hormones…

"I see you found your common sense… for once." He teased Starscream who was not in the mood at all.

"Silence!"

Knock Out just rolled his eyes. He needed Starscream to tell him what had happened and edging the seeker was not doing him any good at all. So he let the seeker change in silence. But his gaze was still following the other's every move. Starscream had turned his back to Knock Out and there wasn't much to see, except when he bent to put his pants on and showed a particularly delicious view of his behind, clad in black tight boxer briefs. Knock Out's trip to dreamland was cut short by Starscream turning to face him again. The medic noticed the other was still refusing to wear the huge boots they were given.

"You still refuse to put them on huh? Sure they're ugly but aren't your feet cold?"

"It's not about their lack of attractiveness." Starscream almost decided to leave his explanation at that but he had the feeling that Knock Out will just continue pestering him if he didn't give a reason why he didn't want to put the boots on. "I can't wear them... my hip joints feel weird when I do." He quickly turned his gaze away from the other male as to avoid any mockery that might have followed his rather pathetic reason. However, none came.

"I see. Anyway, let's go back to the question of what exactly happened before you bolted for the bathroom."

Starscream sighed, closing his eyes for a few seconds before snapping his rely. "Nothing happened. Now stop asking me about it!"

Knock Out was anything but convinced by that statement. His left eyebrow rose in question. "Really now? Then why did you bit me on the neck and run for the bathroom? That hardly seems like nothing to me even when I consider your erratic personality."

The seeker didn't have time to be offended. He had to think of something quickly!

"I had a nightmare!" he blurted out, not really putting much thought into what he was saying.

Knock Out massaged his temples, recognizing Starscream's lie immediately. He shifted on the bed and patted the space on his left. "Look, I have orders from Megatron to find out what's wrong with you and fix it. And fix it I shall. I'll find a way to do it because I have no desire to get on our master's bad side. Now sit down and don't make things extra difficult for both of us, Commander!"

Starscream's lips pursed at Knock Out's tone and he opened his mouth to rebel against the treatment but nothing came out. Whether the seeker liked it or not, Knock Out had a point. And the excuse of a nightmare would never be feasible for Megatron. The warlord already had plenty of doubts when it came to Starscream.

The seeker sighed in defeat, slumping into the bed next to Knock Out. He truly hated his life. He felt the other moving closer to him and brushing their knees together before speaking.

"So, did you feel pain somewhere or what?"

The proximity shouldn't have bothered Starscream. After all he had already shared his tiny bed with the redhead. But something still made him feel uncomfortable. Before he forced himself to answer Knock Out's question, a voice boomed from the Command Center.

"Starscream, Knock Out get in here!"

The two humans jumped in fright at their leader's voice. They quickly complied, knocking the small table in their hurry to get out of the room and to Megatron. Upon entering the Command Center they noticed the other two Decepticons were not the only ones in there. Agent Fowler was talking to Prime while two casually dressed unknown human males were standing close by, chatting quietly with each other.

When Starscream and Knock Out climbed the ladder to the upper deck to join Megatron and Breakdown, all attention snapped to them. Prime offlined his optics and vented a tired sigh before onlining them again and turning to the Decepticons.

"While I do not consider it wise that you are to be let out in the human world without a supervision from a member of my team, Agent Fowler is positive his men would be able to .. handle you, should you try to escape."

Megatron crossed his arms and snorted in ridicule. Starscream and Breakdown shared his disbelief while Knock Out was too busy ogling the two newcomers.

Agent Fowler seems to have expected the skepticism from the Decepticons though.

"Those two are the best recruits I've ever trained. They are more than qualified to deal with you, considering how inexperienced you all are with your new bodies. They are also armed and are given orders to shoot any of you who have the bright idea to try to escape. So I suggest you do what they tell you to and don't provoke them." He gave Megatron a pointed look before turning towards Prime again. "I must go now. They'll brief your Decepti-pets on how things will work."

Four sets of low growls and a few profanities indicated the Decepticons' resentment at being called pets.

Agent Fowler simply ignored them and left without another word. He was barely out of sight before the slightly taller of the two blondes started talking.

"My name's Ryan and this is my brother Leon" the man waved his hand in the other's direction. Ryan was the more talkative of the two, even letting a small friendly smile adore his lips. His brother on the other hand, looked really annoyed, if the furrowed eyebrows and crossed arms were any indicator. Ryan didn't pay him attention though as he continued talking.

"We were informed that you used to be Cybertronians like team Prime here and that you've been turned into humans. Our mission—" he was rudely interrupted by his brother forced laugh of mockery. The taller man ignored him and simply continued. "Our mission is to escort you to a clothes-selling facility so you may choose new garments."

"It's a disgrace to the uniform to be worn by the likes of you!"

"Brother!"

"What? It's true! Now let's get this done with already!" the shorter sibling spun on his heels and headed towards the ladders and then straight for the Ground Bridge.

Ryan shook his head at his brother's behavior. He turned his attention back to the Decepticons who were less than happy for being insulted but three of them secretly wanted a change of clothes nonetheless. The blonde smiled apologetically before his eyes were drawn towards Starscream's bare feet. He blinked in surprise and lifted an eyebrow at the seeker in question. Starscream only huffed and looked away in embarrassment.

"You need to put shoes on before we leave." Ryan informed the ex-jet calmly before following his brother down the ladders.

The Decepticon SIC was about to complain and refuse but a quick look from Megatron shut him up on the spot. The slim human complied silently for once and quickly sprinted to the sleeping quarters to collects his boots. He grimaced at the uncomfortable feeling of wearing them and didn't try to hide his discomfort in the slightest. He whined loudly before he was struck by another one of Megatron's glares. He unconsciously made a step to the side and half-hid himself behind Breakdown's quite massive body. Breakdown looked really uncomfortable being used as a shield against Megatron's anger. Meanwhile Knock Out was having too much fun chuckling at others' misery. But he didn't pass the chance to inform the seeker that their discussion from earlier was not done or forgotten.

It was not long before all were standing in front of the Ground Bridge. Prime reluctantly activated it and watched the six humans go through it. He hoped Agent Fowler knew what he was dealing with. But this had been an argument he could not have won.

The Decepticons and the brothers successfully crossed the Ground Bridge which was set for the coordinates of the underground parking space of a huge Shopping Mall.

"Well, we're here. Let's complete the mission!" the taller brother said, trying his best to sound enthusiastic about it.

His brother just rolled his eyes and glared at the Decepticons. "No funny business!"


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, I have an update! I'm really sorry for taking so long but this past year has been very busy and stressful to me and I was not really in the mood for writing most of the time.
> 
> Apologies to the MegaStar fans in particular because this chapter is a heavy KOxSS one. I know many of you who follow this story are not really into KOxSS but I've become a huge fan of it the past several months so naturally I want to write about it the most.
> 
> Unbeta'd and I only checked it once so as always - there'll be several (probably more) mistakes that I missed. And I haven't written much for a long time but I hope the chapter is not too bad.
> 
> Enjoy! And comments are always appreciated of course!~

Ryan, Leon and the four Decepticons-turned-humans stood in the underground parking space of the big shopping mall they were bridged to several minutes ago when there were no people around. At that moment, however, a small group of young adults could be spotted a few parking lots behind them and another group has just left the large lift coming form the ground floor.

Before the Cons could realize what was happening, the military twins have snapped an electronic tracking bracelet on the hand of each of them. None of them liked it but they weren’t surprised by it in the least. Knock Out made sure that his opinion of the tacky colour of the bracelet was heard loud and clear during the whole lift ride to the ground level.

While Knock Out and Breakdown have spent considerably greater amount of time among the humans, Starscream and Megatron were far more taken aback by the huge crowd that welcomed them at the shopping mall’s main entrance. Being a human among humans felt strange. The Cons heard Ryan’s voice louder than the people’s chatter.

“Follow me and don’t do anything stupid, okay?”

The four Decepticon followed the twins in silence. Some of them were unwilling, some were enthusiastic, and some just didn’t like humans and being ordered around. Regardless, no one wandered off and they arrived quickly at one of the biggest stores in the mall, enormous glowing letter spelling the brand’s name. All six of them entered and Ryan took them to a less crowded area of the store before giving his next set of instructions.

“Okay, now listen how clothes shops work: you pick a piece of clothing you like, find a size you think it will fit you and go to the “Changing Rooms” to try it. If it fits – put it in a shopping bag you take from there” all four Decepticons followed the direction Ryan was pointing at before returning their attention to him once again. “and when you’re finished – wait for me at the cash desk. And don’t leave the shop until I tell you to. Leon will be waiting at the entrance so don’t think you can just slip out. Now go.”

Knock Out didn’t wait another second before he took two of the shopping bags and mixed with the crowd, disappearing further into the store. He couldn’t wait to finally get some suitable for him clothes. Something that will outline his asserts. 

Breakdown followed shortly after, not trusting his friend to go alone. But mostly – not wanting to wander alone. Similar to Breakdown, Starscream didn’t want to have to go alone either so he followed as well. And he didn’t entirely wish to be around Megatron at the moment. Completely new environment and a completely new body were more than enough stress for the ex-seeker at that moment.

Speaking of Megatron – the tall human had the darkest expression he could muster in his fleshy body. He sighed and quickly scanned the store before spotting a section that was suitable for him and setting a steady pace towards it.

Meanwhile, Knock Out has gone straight to the “Shoes” section of the store and was waiting for Starscream with a pair of stylish black high heels in hands and a big grin on his lips. Breakdown shook his head and sighed in defeat. What was with Knock Out and his desire to push Starscream’s buttons so much? 

The big Con simply observed when the ex-seeker finally emerged from the crowd and spotted the shoes in the redhead’s hands. He decided to keep an eye on the two troublesome Cons and to intervene if they start destroying property. But for now, such actions were unnecessary. Breakdown was surprised to notice how Knock Out received only a semi-serious shove to the chest and a frown from Starscream. 

It didn’t take long for the ex-seeker to choose a nice pair of black leathered knee high boots with a tiny few centimeters heels that fit him perfectly. With a content sigh that he could finally walk comfortably again, he slouched into the seat next to Breakdown, who also has already chosen his pair of comfortable boots – considerably rougher and bigger than Starscream’s and dark brown in colour. 

Knock Out, on the other hand, was trying his 20th pair of shoes when Starscream grinned widely and pointed towards the “Ugg Boots” stand. Revenge was sweet for the slim male when Knock Out followed his finger’s direction and a horrified expression set on his beautiful features, quickly followed by a scandalized look sent in Starscream’s direction. 

The ex-seeker simply laughed at the redhead, his face getting redder as his laugh grew stronger. Knock Out directed his gaze towards Breakdown to search for support but he found his friend with a hand clamped over his mouth in order to stifle his laughter and eyes averted to the side.

Knock Out’s anger didn’t last long though. And he completely forgot about it when he found two pairs of shoes for himself – a pair of red sneakers and a pair of white official leather shoes. With a satisfied smile, he took off to another part of the store, followed by Starscream and Breakdown, seemingly a lot less enthusiastic than the redhead.

Meanwhile, Megatron has reached his destination and deduced his clothing size quickly and efficiently. Not wanting to spend more time than absolutely necessary, he picked the garments he thought would look the least ridiculous on him and headed for the Changing Room. His preference in black and grey was very much apparent and so was the predominant strict style of the clothes. All chosen clothes showed the best of his figure while at the same time - not being too tight. 

Even though Megatron didn’t want to spend even a second more than necessary, choosing the right clothes proved to be a more time-consuming task than he has ever imagined. What a useless activity humans were spending so much time into. With a grunt he tossed aside yet another shirt that was too tight for his broad shoulders. That was going to take awhile. 

***

 

Leon didn’t like shopping. Leon didn’t like crowds. And he especially didn’t like crowds in shopping stores. And he didn’t like babysitting ex-robot aliens who wanted to take over Earth either. This was a nightmare mission and he was really close to punching someone in the face. 

And the giggling gang of teenage girls passing by and ogling him was not doing his nerves any good. 

***

Meanwhile, Starscream, Knock Out and Breakdown have filled all 6 of their shopping bags with variety of clothes and shoes, most of which coloured black, grey, red and blue. They have already seen every little corner of the store, strategically avoiding Megatron, and were ready to go when Starscream spotted a nice pair leather pants and was for the first time today – enthusiastic about trying on a piece of clothing. 

When he spent far too long in the changing room, however, Knock Out has finally gotten bored of waiting and waiting for the ex-seeker to come out. Standing up from his seat beside Breakdown, he went boldly and straight into Starscream’s changing room. The brunet jumped when the intruder entered and spun on the heel of his foot to yell at whoever it was. Seeing Knock Out just standing there caught Starscream by surprise. He needed a few seconds to gain his wits again. The long glance from head to toe from Knock Out speeded things up considerably as well. 

Starscream crossed his arms in front of his chest before hissing at the red head. 

“What do you think you’re doing, Knock Out!? Don’t you see I’m in the middle of something!? You can’t just barge in!”

The other Con didn’t answer. His lazy glance stopped over the leather-covered crotch and then moved to ogle Starscream’s behind in the huge full-size mirror at the back of the changing room. The pants were hugging those slender legs so perfectly well that they looked like a second skin. And they outlined the best the ex-seeker had to offer. And it was great and Knock Out barely took his eyes off of the glorious sight. He also would’ve wondered why he was ogling a human while he had never shown any interest in that specie. But his mind was too busy with other things at the moment. Like, with the open fly for example.

Starscream’s cheeks only coloured more by the simple yet somehow perversely said ‘nice’ that spilled from Knock Out’s smirking mouth. He shuffled uncomfortably before glaring harder at the red head. 

“If you’re done staring, do you mind getting out?!?”

“You will buy them, right?” 

“What??” 

“The pants.” And to emphasize his words, Knock Out rested his hands on each side of Starscream’s hips, caressing the black leather there. His whole body has shifted closer and Starscream was feeling a bit uncomfortable. But he didn’t really want the other to step away either. If Knock Out has noticed Starscream’s dilemma, he didn’t acknowledge it in any way and simply continued to talk. “They suit you amazingly. It’d be a shame not to buy them.”

Starscream has been so starved for positive attention and for being appreciated in any way or form for so long that even the most insignificant compliment was enough to bring a small, slightly dreamy and a little stupid smile to his lips. He caught himself mid-smile and immediately frowned at his own pitiful behavior. Although Knock Out’s close proximity was proving to be extremely pleasant, Starscream didn’t want to acknowledge that it felt that way right then so he grabbed the red head by the shoulders to push him away. Except he didn’t push him away at all. And his grip wasn’t exactly a grip either. It was a hesitant sort of touch and it irritated Starscream so much.

This time Knock Out noticed the inner turmoil showing on Starscream’s very expressive face and was more than a little amused by it. But even though human Starscream had no sharp claws, Knock Out was certain the slim male could still do more than a fair amount of damage with them. So changing the subject it was… sort of.

“Why did you spend so much time in here? I mean, I get it why you’d like to watch yourself in the mirror but we are waiting for you, you know..”

“I don’t—” Starscream’s eyes widened and he sputtered for a second before ducking his head low and muttered almost inaudibly. “I can’t get them off….”

Laughter spilled from Knock Out’s lips before he could stop it. Hating being made fun of, Starscream dug his nails into the red head’s shoulders and Knock Out realized just how right he has been in predicting the damage and pain the ex-seeker’s nails could deliver. He winced and his chuckles died quickly. He gave his best half-apologetic face expression and it was enough to lessen Starscream’s grip.

“Let me help you then.”

Starscream gave him a dubious look and lifted his eyebrow in question. Knock Out was a selfish little glitch. No doubt he was after something… which Starscream didn’t want to think abut now. Yes, ignore things you don’t want to face was always such a good decision and it always worked! Yes. 

The brunet puffed and averted his eyes from the other, muttering under his breath. “Fine.” 

A wide grin split Knock Out’s face and he dropped to his knees a mere second later. Starscream’s hands on the other’s shoulders followed the fall and were now even more awkwardly gripping the black shirt Knock Out was wearing. His breath hitched when he noticed the particular pose they were in. And he truly wanted to regret ever agreeing to accept Knock Out’s help but he just couldn’t. As much as the pose made him uncomfortable, it was also strangely exciting. 

Maybe a bit too exciting…

The hands previously grasping Starscream’s hips moved to the open fly. Knock Out took a hold of the leather on each side of the fly and hooked several fingers into the belt loop and slowly pulled downwards. The leather moved a couple of centimeters before coming to a stop and refusing to budge anymore. This didn’t discouraged Knock Out though. He moved even closer to Starscream, who fidgeted slightly at his personal space being invaded like that. The ex-Con doctor rearranged his hands and instead of hooking his fingers into the belt loops in the front, his thumbs went into the belt loops at Starscream’s sides and the middle and ring fingers were hooked into the belt loops at the back, leaving the index fingers to slide against the skin of Starscream’s waist and then against the black underwear he was wearing. 

The hold was surprisingly effective and the leather slid down and past Starscream’s bottom without much problem. Although the slimmer Con was certain that could’ve been executed without the other being so close to him, he didn’t voice his opinion. He didn’t mind all that much the method used. Actually it was kind of nice and that thought kind of scared him. But he didn’t feel like thinking about that. Especially not when Knock Out’s warm breath was tickling his abdomen and when the other moved to unhook his fingers, his soft reddish hair brushed against Starscream’s skin. Why was the hair so soft?!?

But very soon Starscream was pulled out of his thoughts by a pair of hands pulling the leather pants down even more and resting against the back of his thighs. His knees almost buckled at the sensation and his grip on Knock Out’s shoulders tightened to prevent his legs from giving out. 

And those glorious hands continued to slowly slide down his slim legs, taking the leather down with them. A bit of nails digging into his thighs was enough to draw a little moan out of Starscream. Little but enough to encourage Knock Out to close the distance between his face and Starscream’s abdomen and lightly trail his dry lips against the slightly toned muscles there. A visible shudder and a whimper quickly widened Knock Out’s smirk. And the shaky but demanding fingers that buried themselves in his red locks were another added bonus. 

Both Cons were enjoying the current situation far too much and questions were left for later. The next moment though, the curtain of the changing room was pulled away roughly and a deep and angry voice startled them both, causing Starscream to almost stumble back and fall on his butt if it wasn’t for Knock Out’s grip around his legs. 

“What are you two still doing in here? Get ready, we’re leaving!”

Knock Out could feel the trembling in Starscream’s legs that Megatron’s appearance caused. Looking upwards and towards the brunet’s face, he saw how distressed Starscream truly was. The moment being ruined and Megatron demanding them to hurry, Knock Out swiftly peeled the leather pants down to Starscream’s ankles and tapped with his fingers against each calf to get the other’s attention. Starscream immediately looked down and lifted his right foot. 

Knock Out left Starscream to change in peace and exited the small enclosed space without a word. A mere minute later, Starscream emerged as well, gaze glued to the ground. 

Megtron grunted and gestured the rest of the Decepticons to follow him. Starscream fell in a line, step behind him and Breakdown and Knock Out tailed several steps after that. 

Waiting at the queue was boring and all were silent. They left the store shortly after Ryan paid the huge bill.

Breakdown was a little curious about exactly what has happened in the changing room but before he had time to ask, Knock Out shot back a question of his own. The usually confident and cheeky aura around the doctor was not all that present right then. And the way he asked the question was hesitant.

“Breakdown, do you… feel more attracted to humans now… that we’re humans as well?”

“Not really.” came the short reply, accompanied by a shrug. “But I guess you do.” 

A quick look between Knock Out’s eyes and whatever he was looking at, which just happened to be Starscream’s legs, was enough for Breakdown to put two and two together. Knock Out’s fascination with Starscream when they were Cybertronians was something that hasn’t escaped Breakdown’s eye either, even though the other has never mentioned it and would probably deny it.

“You know, doc, finding humans attractive and finding one human in particular attractive are two different things. Especially since you have been attracted to said human when he was still Cybertronian.”

The reaction that got out of Knock Out didn’t disappoint Breakdown at all. The widened eyes and the sputtering were too hilarious on Knock Out and he couldn’t stifle his laughter as well as he thought he could. The red head’s scandalized expression at being laughed at just intensified it. 

“Don’t laugh! I’m not—I’m not attracted to Starscream! Stop laughing! Breakdoooown! I’m not attracted to him. He’s just fun to tease.”

A ‘don’t lie to me’ look from Breakdown was all it took to silence Knock Out and to make him avert his eyes and huff. 

“Are you …” the word he was going to use was almost laughable when applied to the red head. “embarrassed you’re attracted to an aerial? And you want to cover that up by using your new human body and its hormones.”

Knock Out’s jaw tightened slightly. Bull’s eye!

“That’s ridiculous, doc.”

They were getting closer to the exit of the shopping mall when Knock Out finally decided to reply. With a frown on his face he refused to move his glare from the ground.

“I’m not embarrassed. That’s would be ridiculous. But aerials, especially our dear Commander, consider grounders to be inferior. I didn’t want to admit having a… fascination with someone who thinks I’m inferior to them just because I didn’t desire to have wings!”  
And muttering under his breath he added “appealing as they might be.”

“They sure are.”

“What!?” Knock Out’s head snapped so fast it hurt.

“Well, they’re kinda enticing when they flutter.” Breakdown moved his hands in an imitation of said motion to emphasize his point. 

“If I didn’t know better, I’d think you’re mocking me.”

“Mocking you? For liking someone? Come on, man, I’m not an aft.”

“I don’t like him! He’s just fun to tease!” what a useless lie

Breakdown just shook his head. “Whatever. So what do you think – he’ll give you a chance now that you’re not a grounder? Because that’s not really a good plan. Besides, the reason he was such an aft to you was because you kept poking him and being late and disobeying orders. He may have given you a chance if you weren’t like that.”

Knock Out grunted in reply. “You weren’t there when he referred to me as “one of those”. He clearly thinks grounders are inferior and he wouldn’t step down to their level. However,” a smirk split Knock Out’s face as he turned his head to look at Breakdown. “so far he’s been surprisingly okay with my advances.”

“Advances? Is that was going on in the changing room? Wait, nevermind. But if there’s one Cybertronian who can change the Commander’s mind about grounders, it’s you.”

They have already exited the shopping mall and the cool wind blew their faces before they boarded the lift towards the underground parking space. With too many bags with clothes and shoes in hands, they waited for the area to get clear so Ryan and Leon could contact the Autobots and request a Ground Bridge. No one spoke while they waited. Megatron still looked a bit angry and Starscream’s glare hasn’t left the floor. 

They all went through the greenish light of the opened bridge and Ryan and Leon were bridged away from the Autobot base shortly after. 

The new addition to the base was quickly spotted by the Decepticons and after a brief explanation it was clear it was a so-called washing machine. Knock Out found it extremely handy and liked it a lot.

Starscream spent the rest of the day in the sleeping quarters. Megatron preferred to watch the news TV channel while Knock Out wanted to educate himself more about humans and hogged the new laptop the Autobots provided for them. Breakdown, on the other hand, found out the wonderful world of cooking. In his pinion, if there was one thing about humans that was okay – it was their diverse variety of foods. 

***

-That night-

Knock Out went to their sleeping quarters first. Upon entering, Starscream didn’t even turn around to see who it was. He just kept lying on his bed, facing the wall. Knock Out approached him slowly and when his knee pressed down on the mattress, the brunet finally spoke, his voice flat and cold.

“No.”

“What?” 

“You’re not sleeping on my bed tonight… from now on. You have a bed and you’ll sleep on it.”

Knock Out frowned deeply and climbed up to his own bed where he found a thick blanket. At least he wouldn’t be cold… But what was he thinking trying to get Starscream’s attention? It was a useless attempt.

When the other two Cons entered the sleeping quarters and noticed the separate beds in which Starscream and Knock Out were sleeping, an aura of satisfaction surrounded Megatron while Breakdown frowned but decided not to bother Knock Out at that moment. Judging by the ‘face to the wall’ pose he has gotten into, it was clear to the bigger Con that the ex-medic didn’t want to talk about anything.

***  
-Later That Night-

Starscream was lying on his side when he felt a warm, feather-like touch tracing the side of his leg and slowly traveling upwards until it settled on his hip. He could feel lips against the nape of his neck, soft warm lips raining small light kisses there. Then they moved to the curve where his neck meets his shoulders and teeth nibbled lightly at the muscle there.

The hand on his hip got heavier as whoever was kissing him has finally let it rest comfortably. Its thumb tracing circles around Starscream’s hipbone. But it didn’t stay like that for long. Ever so slowly and tentatively, the hand moved upwards and towards Starscream’s front, the fingers slipping under the waistband of the black underwear. The brunet’s breath hitched but the hand just flattened against his stomach, hotter and heavier than it should be. 

Meanwhile, the soft lips have moved down to the ex-seeker’s back, tracing the path of the spine. The kisses have grown longer, wetter and more passionate and the occasional feel of hot tongue against his skin made Starscream shudder in pleasure. And then they moved to his right shoulder blade - the place where his wings used to be attached when he was still Cybertronian. A place that it seems has transferred its sensitivity into Starscream’s human body as well. He couldn’t stop the needy moan that left his lips. He heard an amused chuckle from the person behind him and not even a second later a warm body pressed against his back. And it felt amazing. And it felt like Knock Out.

Then he woke up. And he felt his eyebrows furrowing in disappointment before he gained the will to stop them. He already missed the touches and he missed the body pressing against his back even more. He rolled on his back to peek a glance at Knock Out’s bed when he realized he felt rather… uncomfortable in his lower regions. 

Yep, human spikes definitely acted on their own. Starscream let out a heavy sigh and closed his eyes, slightly embarrassed and irritated at his own treacherous body. 

***

“Optimus, do you think we should tell them about the requirements? Not that I want them to turn back to their Cybertronian selves but… it’s not like they could fulfill them anyway. But maybe they’ll be less violent if they knew there was a way out?” 

Ratchet has tried to find other ways to reverse the effect of the artifact but his attempts were in vain. The emotions requirements was the only way out of this mess. And the medic was still unsure whether they should even look into ways to turn the Cons back into Cybertronians. Without their high commanders and without their medical staff, the Decepticons were at a great disadvantage and it was a once in a lifetime opportunity to end this War once and for all.

Prime was silent for a long time. He was hoping that spending time as humans would change the Decepticons’ attitude towards mankind. Although such an idea seemed ridiculous, Optimus still wished that perhaps it could work.

“We shall inform them tomorrow. And as they are now humans, integrating them into human society is unavoidable. Agent Fowler assures me he knows the perfect settings for that process to begin at. He promised to visit tomorrow and explain his plan in further details. But for now – let us recharge, old friend.”


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oops, I accidentally forgot to update the "new" chapter from half an year ago here as well.   
> I'm really slow with this story, I'm so sorry!

The next morning all ex-Cybertronians were seated on the couch, waiting for Prime, who has gathered them there, to finally speak. Megatron had his muscled arms crossed in front of his chest and was wearing a deep frown on his face. Next to him, Starscream, had also crossed his arms but he was visibly uncomfortable and irritated, constantly twitching in his seat and trying his best to keep his hip from touching Knock Out's who was next to him. But the couch was far too small.

Knock Out, on the other hand, didn't seem to notice Starscream. His own legs were jittering madly and the coffee in his mug was shaking way too much to be normal. Breakdown has introduced him to coffee that morning, thinking the redhead would love it. And he has been absolutely correct. Knock Out loved it. Too much actually.

Breakdown, who was standing next to the couch, reached for the hot mug in Knock Out's hands and snatched it away, receiving a very vocal disappointment from the redhead.

Prime chose that moment to address the new unwilling 'guests'.

"I have gathered you all here to inform you that Ratchet has made progress on the prototype. He-"

"What's the catch?" Megatron's deep and skeptical voice cut Prime's sentence. "I can't imagine you would just allow us to regain our true forms and walk away."

Prime's opticbrows furrowed slightly but he wasn't all that surprised by Megatron's doubts. He had good reasons to doubt after all.

"There is no catch, Megatron. Only requirements. And they are not set by me or the Autobots. There is little I could do to stop the reverse transformation if you decide to follow those requirements."

The explanation has successfully intrigued not only Megatron but the rest of his fellow Decepticons as well. All four sets of eyes were intently staring at the Prime, expectant and hopeful but also cautious.

Seeing no further questions arising from the Decepticons, Prime continued in a steady and somewhat calming voice.

"Ratchet has found the prototype's origin and purpose. It has been constructed by a Cybertronian scientists' group which aim has been to explore alien civilizations to an extreme point. According to them, learning about a specific group, be it a whole specie or ethnicity, was best achieved when they were one with that group. The prototype's purpose is precisely that – to turn Cybertronians into the life forms they wish to explore further."

Megatron's frown has deepened during Prime's explanation and he was about to voice yet another question when Starscream took the words right out of his mouth and voiced them with a considerably more screeching than Megatron would have.

"We didn't wish to explore those filthy vermin!"

"Unfortunately, the prototype doesn't work that way. It is manually operated and if no specific group is being selected - it changes Cybertronians into the dominant specie on the planet by default. In your case – the humans.

Megatron had no interest in history lessons though.

"What are the requirements we have to fulfill to return to our rightful forms?"

Prime could clearly see the tension and expectation in The Decepticons' new organic bodies and he could equally clearly feel said tension in the air. Making difficult decisions was an enormous part of his responsibilities and he has already made this one.

"The requirements are that you experience all Primary and Secondary emotions as humans."

He turned towards the console behind him and his fingers run over the keyboard before a list of said emotions came to life on the huge screen.

Four set of eyes scanned the writing on the screen. Loud whining and rude cursing followed.

"The good news is," Prime continued. "that you do not need to experience them all individually but instead – as a group."

"That's little consolation! The piece of scrap is a prototype for a reason. Nobody can be certain if it would actually work even if we do fulfill the requirements. Did you find no other way?!" Megatron said, his voice raising. "Or do you truly mean to tell me this is conveniently the only way?!"

To be completely honest, Prime has expected a violent reaction out of Megatron. But there was little he could do about it.

"I have told you all we found out, Megatron. There is no more."

Megatron was far from happy but there was nothing he could possibly do in his puny new form that could help him get more information out of the Prime.

What happened next didn't improve his mood either.

"Integration into human society is advisable. Agent Fowler informed me he has an idea about how this process is best to begin." Optimus spoke calmly, activating the ground bridge in the meantime. Ryan and Leon emerged from it seconds after with luggage in hands.

"Apparently we did good job looking after you at the mall so we got assigned again." Ryan said and Leon grumbled beside him.

"Pack your stuff – we're going someplace warm."

***

The ground bridge took them to a small forest on the seaside. The place looked desolate but the sea view was amazing. The sun was beaming down and the grumble of the crashing waves could be heard from the shore below.

The brothers didn't enjoy the scenery for long and soon lead the ex-Cybertronians on a small path through the woods until they reached the other end. Apparently the small forest was in close proximity to a camping site. Numerous caravans, tents, bungalows, and hotels adorned the bay's shore from side to side.

The Decepticons were confused when Ryan welcomed them to the camping site with an exciting grin. When his enthusiasm was clearly not shared by the others, he sighed tiredly and rolled his eyes before taking his first step on the new even smaller path down the rocky slope.

All followed him carefully down and later – through half the beach and towards the center of the bay's shore where small patches of grass and briar could be seen. Ryan took them to a big caravan with a huge canopy in front of it and a smaller one in front of the first one.

Ryan left his own luggage on the floor inside the big canopy and turned towards his brother and the rest of the company.

"Agent Fowler deems it necessary for you all to start… intergrading into human society. And given the fact we have already… dealt with you once-"

Ryan's speech was interrupted by a murmured 'Unfortunately' from his brother. Ryan gave Leon a side glance before continuing.

"Since we have already dealt with you guys once and might I add - successfully, Fowler decided we would be suitable… I'm not sure what word to use.. teachers, caretakers.. Nevermind. Your integration into human society starts here and now – on the beach, where every dumb and weird thing you might do due to lack of knowledge about humans would be a bit.. um.. less noticeable."

"But that doesn't mean you're free to do whatever you like." All four set of eyes turned towards Leon. "The only thing keeping you out of jail or possibly death is that Prime wishes you be given a chance. You're walking on a thin wire."

Megatron was particularly irritated that apparently his 'freedom' was all because his biggest enemy wished it so. To give him a chance. He gritted his teeth loudly enough to gain a questionable glance from Starscream.

Meanwhile, Ryan has unlocked the small padlock and opened the caravan's door.

"Make yourself comfortable. There should be enough room for all of you."

All ex-Cybertronians waited for Megatron to enter first, already sensing his anger and not wishing to bring it upon themselves by showing disrespect. Megatron didn't take long to enter the caravan. He threw his luggage on the first bed, directly on the left of the entrance. The bed itself was quite large but so was Megatron. Even if there has been enough space for someone else – nobody would have liked to risk being in too close proximity to Megatron.

Breakdown glanced towards Knock Out and Starscream in question why they weren't going in after Megatron and was met by a pair of expectant eyes. Apparently they wanted him to go in first. What's with his size and all, he'd take an eventual punch from Megatron far better than they would.

Entering the caravan, Breakdown was left with no choice but to turn right, passing by a couple of bunk beds that were fat too small for him and reaching the other side of the caravan and a bed that would suit him just fine. He tucked his bag under the bed.

Starscream and Knock Out entered soon after, assured that they wouldn't be caught in Megatron's anger. Starscream, being the first inside, quickly noticed the only two available beds left and was quick to reserve the upper one without realizing its closeness to the ceiling and how that would affect him later. He was too determined not to let the upper bed get taken again, just like Megatron has taken the one at the Autobot base. The beds were quite small. Not terribly small but still smaller than those at the base.

Knock Out didn't mind taking the lower bed. It seemed like a far more logical choice, given the caravan's interior and the hot weather outside. The redhead shoved his bag near that of Starscream under his bed.

"Well, seems we're settled."

The interior of the caravan could be seen in a glance. Having being under lock and not been opened for some times, the air inside was too hot for comfort. They didn't need to stay in long though as Ryan called them all outside to explain things further.

Pointing towards a small construction made of six wooden columns stuck into the ground and a sheet of cloth going around them, he spoke. "This is the outside shower. The one inside is not connected and if you've noticed – there's simply not enough room for some of you to take a shower." His eyes jumped from Megatron to Breakdown before continuing, pointing over a building several dozen meters away from the caravan. "And those are the shared toilets. Now let's get you some swimsuits."

The choice for a swimwear on the camping site was quite limited. Megatron was first to decide, picking a classical pair of black swim briefs. It was the only type that didn't come in weird colours or pictures. Although a pair of black speedos with human skulls on it was awfully tempting.

Starscream was getting really tired of all the heat and was far from the mood for shopping. He grabbed a sky blue swimsuit shorts and refused to think of what made him chose those exactly. He tried hard not to think about flying and how he craved it more and more each day.

Breakdown has taken a liking into a swimsuit short as well. His, however, were of whole scenery of a tropical beach – the ocean, the palm trees, and the fine sand.

For a second he thought that perhaps choosing a plain pair of swimsuit would be better and would attract less attention but that thought left his mind after seeing what Knock Out has chosen – a deep red shorts with fiery red and yellow flames 'engulfing' them from the bottom. Breakdown shook his head a little. He should've totally seen that one coming. Starscream, on the other hand, had a priceless "are you serious" look on his face.

***

After introducing the ex-Cybertronians to the very important, especially for some of them, sunscreen cream, a couple of advices on what to do and what not to do and a very basic lesson about swimming, Ryan and Leon finally decided they could more or less 'release' the Decepticons on the beach. They still wore their tracking bracelets after all. Besides, they couldn't go far without money anyway.

***

Leon couldn't wait to go harpooning. It was his most favourite activity while on the seaside and he has put up through the ridiculous day with only one thing motivating him. But no matter how much he wanted to ditch the Cybertronians and go enjoy some killing, he still didn't want to leave his brother to deal with them all alone. Not that Ryan seemed all that troubled, considering how his eyes were wandering over the ex-Cybertronians' bodies. And suddenly Leon didn't feel guilty at all. The lewd stare Ryan was giving Knock Out's behind made him want to harpoon the redhead's ass.

While he has been looking at his brother and his inability to keep it in his pants, Leon hasn't paid attention to how Megatron has picked one of the other scuba diving harpoons up and was trying to figure out what it was.

Leon's blood run cold when he finally noticed the Decepticon's ruthless leader armed with a lethal weapon. There was no way to predict whether Megatron wouldn't just take a shot for the fun of it. Maybe go on a little killing spree after he's done with his two 'babysitters'. Leon gritted his teeth, cursing himself for letting his guard down.

"Put the harpoon down. Now!"

The distress and tension in Leon's voice was quick to snap his brother's attention to the far more serious matter at hand.

It took Megatron a very short time to figure out how the harpoon worked. The slight panic in the humans was delicious and he smirked wickedly. He placed his index finger on the trigger and lifted the weapon.

"Oh, and why would I do that? Judging by your reaction, I draw the conclusion that this can easily kill you if I fire it into the right spot."

Nobody dared to move. The Cons knew better than to accidentally put themselves between Megatron and whoever he wanted to maim. And Ryan was too afraid that if he tried to disarm Megatron, the big Con would fire just to spite him.

Tension and fear filled the air and Megatron thrived in the power he once again was having. He truly missed being feared. But he was far from stupid. He knew crystal clearly that they wouldn't manage to get away from the humans. And even if they did, they still had no way of contacting Soundwave or returning to their normal frames. It was a better plan to just go along with the humans' plans, no matter how taking order from them and the Autobots enraged him and went against everything he stood for.

He removed his finger from the trigger and lowered the harpoon so it pointed towards the sand. He thrust the weapon into the sand and it stood erected, lodged into the ground.

"Relax, human. If I wanted to kill you, you'd be already dead. But I couldn't pass the opportunity to enjoy your priceless reaction."

Leon was skeptical and with a good reason. But a quick look towards the others Cons made him realize that Megatron was indeed not interest in shooting anyone. Or more likely – he realized it wouldn't do him any good. His fellow Decepticons have returned to their normal behaviour, not a trace of their previous nervousness and tension present.

"Don't pull stunts like that again or I'll shoot you next time. Understood?!" Regardless of Megatron's actual intentions, Leon despised to be toyed with.

He received no reply from Megatron, just an amused quirk of the bigger man's lip. What came next caught Leon completely by surprise.

"I'm coming with you." Megatron said dead seriously. "Wherever you're going, I can only assume it involves killing. I'm in."

Leon groaned internally. He unintentionally got stuck with the most difficult Con to deal with. He was about to try and squirm out of that situation when his brother dug him deeper in.

"Of course Leon will take you with him!" Ryan cheerfully patted Megatron on the back. "He'll teach you all about scuba diving since you don't really need to know more about killing. Off you go!" He gave a bright smile to his brother and it took all of Leon's self-control not to harpoon his brother in the foot.

Unwillingly and grumpily he supplied the Decepticon leader with all that he needed for their scuba diving lesson. He hoped the weird looking equipment would be enough to gross out Megatron but the Con didn't even lift an eyebrow.

Leon sighed in defeat before collecting all the things they needed and gestured Megatron to follow him into the sea.

***

Out of the rest of the Decepticons, Knock Out was the first to find entertainment when he noticed the water scooter and a second later – the dune buggy. Even thought Ryan has bought him rides on both vehicles, Knock Out was still torn which one to try first and he just stood excited in the middle of the beach before running to the water scooter, being lured in by the sheer speed superiority of the machine. With an overjoyed scream, the red head speeded into the sea, adrenalin pumping through his body.

"Well, seem your friend's settled for the day. Anyone else want a ride?"

"No." was the collective answer.

On their way back to the caravan Breakdown noticed a group of humans playing with a ball on both side of a huge net. Further to the side was another group of fit males lifting weights. This intrigued Breakdown. He has always enjoyed group sports and games and has played with the Vehicons as often as he could, considering their responsibilities. But he was unsure of whether the human would let him join them.

"Say, Ryan, do ya think they'll let me play with 'em?" he asked and pointed towards the volleyball players with his thumb.

Ryan's eyes followed the direction the digit was pointing at and nodded.

"Yeah, I think they will. You can just ask them. Anyone is free to use the net and with your height and body, I'm positive they'd want you on their team."

Breakdown's face was a picture of confusion. He wasn't sure how his height or body would be of any advantage but he thanked Ryan and went straight to the humans.

***

"Well, what would you like to do, Starscream?"

The ex-seeker grumbled and crossed his arms in front of his chest. "Nothing."

Ryan did his best not to sigh at Starscream's stubbornness. He was also tempted to just leave the brunet be and not bother but he was also a stubborn man and would not rest until he has found enjoyable activities for all of those placed under his care.

"How about an ice cream, Starscream?"

He didn't manage to stifle his chuckle at his own words. He ignored the flat and unamused look he received from the Con. Instead, he placed his hand on the seeker's back and guided the brunet towards the nearest shop with an ice cream fridge.

Ryan purchased them both ice creams of his choice since Starscream has refused to even look at the selection. Shoving a chocolate flavoured ice cream on a stick onto the seeker's hands earned him a stubborn reply of "I don't want it!"

Regardless of Starscream's lack of any enthusiasm or interest whatsoever, Ryan unwrapped his own ice-cream and nibbled at the tip.

"Mhm, delicious. You should really try it, Starscream." Ryan has seen parents trying to trick their kids into eating something by showing them how delicious it was but he had no idea it would work even remotely as well as it did.

He could clearly see Starscream's stubborn refusal slightly crumble until the seeker finally unwrapped his ice-cream as well, merely half a minute later. He bit into the creamy substance before Ryan had time to warn him not to do that. Starscream winced when his teeth sunk in enough to feel the freezing coldness of the ice cream.

He hastily removed the ice-cream from his mouth and turned his face towards his 'caretaker', his expression a mix of anger and betrayal.

Ryan gave him a sympathetic smile. "Don't bite it. Just lick." As to demonstrate, he licked his growingly smaller ice-cream and then urged Starscream to do the same.

"Do you like it?"

Starscream did. He liked it a lot. The sweet and creamy texture was absolutely delicious and the way it melted in his mouth was heavenly. Not to mention how well it cooled him in that horribly hot day. Even if he wanted to, he couldn't find a single thing to complain about. His eyes shifted and he turned his whole head to the opposite direction of where Ryan was.

"No. It's horrible."

What a blatant lie.

"Okay. Then you won't mind me if I eat it, right?" Ryan said and reached to take Starscream's ice-cream from the other's hand. But the ex-seeker snatched it away in a flash. Realizing what he has done and what that meant, Starscream puffed his cheeks. Ryan could really only compare him to a stubborn kid.

"Maybe I like it a little. Besides, it's mine!"

Ryan looked with amusement as Starscream devoured his ice-cream quickly before anyone tried to take it away from him again. Shortly after the seeker was done licking the last bits of cream from the stick, his attention was drawn towards the sky again. He envied how Knock Out has found a way to satisfy his own need for speed unlike Starscream, whose hunger for the sky was only growing stronger and stronger with every day.

A curious thing in the sky made him squint his eyes, trying to see it better. Ryan noticed that but kept silent. He has finally found an activity the seeker would be interested in.

Starscream's sky hunger and the possibility of a chance to be in the sky again won over his stubbornness.

"What is that flying in the sky?"

"A powered paraglider. A type of aircraft. I've rode one before. It's really enjoyable."

The way Starscream's eyes brightened at the mentioning of aircrafts was almost enough for Ryan to offer Starscream a ride but he wanted the seeker to ask for it personally. And the frantic way Starscream kept looking between the paraglider in the sky and Ryan was enough to reassure the blonde he wouldn't have to wait long. The seeker balled his hands into fists.

"May I… ride one of those? Flying is essential for seekers."

Who knew Starscream could be so polite when he wanted something.

"Sure! I know here to go. Come."

Starscream quickly followed Ryan behind the caravan where the blonde uncovered a sleek black motorbike. He unlocked the chain and pushed it to the road before getting on it. He turned towards Starscream and petted the seat behind him.

"Hop on!"

Starscream, on the other hand, was giving him a ridiculous look - a mixture of "are you insane" and "no fucking way I'm climbing into that death-trap!".

"Come on, I've driven a motorbike for 7 years and never had an accident. You want to fly right?"

Starscream's lips thinned before he climbed onto the bike, his body stiff as a board. Ryan barely waited for the seeker to sit comfortably before powering the bike's engine and taking off, causing a distressed Starscream to embrace him from behind with enough strength to shorten his breath.

If Starscream could've heard anything at that time, it would've been Ryan's amused chuckle.

It didn't take them long to arrive at their destination. And Starscream didn't have time to enjoy the scenery before Ryan called him to get on a paraglider. The man responsible for the paragliders secured Starscream's belts swiftly before doing the same for Ryan who sat behind the seeker.

Starscream didn't even notice the pair of arms that sneaked around his waist. He was just so excited to finally be in the air again. The strong wind at the place where the paragliders were was already blowing in his face and has ruffled his hair. And he absolutely loved it.

The human that secured him said something but Starscream ignored him. A couple of seconds later am engine began to roar and they were airborne. Starscream couldn't help it when an excited squeak left his lips and he would've been embarrassed in any other situation if he wasn't having so much fun.

Flying with the paraglider was ages away from the joy of flying in his own jet alt mode but for now – it was more than Starscream could hope for.

Ten minutes into the flight, Ryan and Starscream were flying low over the bay where they were camping. Low enough to be able to hear Knock Out's excited yells and quite clearly see the reckless way he was driving the water scooter. When they neared him even more, the redhead finally noticed who the men flying the paraglider were. He was amused by the fact that Starscream, oh Lord of the Skies, would fly what he would consider an inferior flying machine. With the aid of a human no less.

Speaking of that human… The way Ryan has embraced Starscream so closely from behind, the way his arms were so tightly circled around the ex-seeker's waist, and the way his chin was propped on Starscream's shoulder were irking Knock Out to no end. He felt his hands tighten around the water scooter's wheel.

What made his stomach clench with a nasty feeling was the ecstatic expression Starscream was wearing on his face.

***

He did try to enjoy the rest of the day but it just wasn't the same. He tried not to think about it but the more he tried – the more he thought about it.

While Knock Out was sulking beside the caravan, Breakdown has managed to befriend the humans he was playing with. He has also won a small competition of lifting weights and has gotten followed back to the caravan by a couple of young females that Knock Out's glare has been quick to scatter.

Leon and Megatron were next to come back, carrying a net full of fish. Knock Out couldn't believe it – even Lord Megatron looked like he has had fun hunting and killing the weird organic animals. But he had to admit that when they fried and ate the fish that evening – it was indeed delicious. And it would've been even more delicious if Knock Out didn't feel like gagging at the way Ryan has nested himself near Starscream.

***

The night came and went and Knock Out woke up with a strange weight over his body and warmth engulfing the left side of his neck. He soon realized the weight was actually a body and it fit so nicely against his. The way a thigh was pressing down against his intimate region was more than nice actually. The fact it was Starscream's thigh that was pressing down was a hundred times better. Knock Out's reaction to it was almost instantaneous – his underwear feeling slightly too tight all of a sudden.

One of Knock Out's hands pressed against the small of Starscream's back, pushing the seeker even closer to Knock Out. And the other found its way to the back of Starscream's right thigh, just below the curve of his behind.

The warmth alongside his neck was Starscream's breath. Knock Out turned his head towards the seeker's face and the other's soft looking lips were so close. So teasingly close! He could just—

"Doc?"

***

Thanks for reading!


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